The King's Men
by MrsAlderaan
Summary: Two rivals, pitted against each other from a young age, find themselves thrust into the midst of a conspiracy. The elder's of their hometown Evermore have been spying on them, and, now, they find themselves attacked by strangers. Their escape has them hunted by the very same elders, but escaping is never that simple when there are others that are much more powerful than yourself.
1. Opening

**Hi Everybody,**

**Not going to lie. This story is pretty prolific, and I haven't had time to edit it. I apologize for the errors you'll find throughout. Hopefully, you can ignore those, and enjoy the content.**

**Much Love,**

**MA**

* * *

Kala, a beautiful and vibrant world. Rich, lush jungles, and large forests with trees so large that they seemingly go on forever. Boundless, deep cerulean oceans that could swallow continents whole, and deserts that, in their aridness, rival the element plane of earth itself.

Throughout all of this vast diverseness, a common thread connects them all. Magic. From those who practice the drudic arts, calling upon the world itself for power, to those who would sell their very soul for even a sliver of power.

The magic suffusing the world is wildly disparate, and so are its people. The people of Kala are a determined bunch, and have spread to every corner of the world, settling anywhere they deem worthy. The most harsh environment of this world is on the Northernmost continent of Yutan. It is a cold, barren tundra where even the few stray animals that make their homes there find it difficult to survive. Yet, the people are strong willed, if nothing else. In the last few centuries, people- elves, dwarves, and humans alike- have turned the Southernmost region of Yutan into not only a survivable, but a livable area with trade and livestock being the mainstays to make a livelihood. Among all the liveliness that has come from the newfound increase in trade, there is still a dark air that hangs around the people.

Even though Yutan has only just now been transformed into a more lively scene, the people have still lived here for a generations. So long was the time, that few even remember why this place was founded in the first place, except for a select few elders and officials. They know that the Northernmost mountain holds the real reason why people have lived here for so long. They make sure that this secret stays under lock and key, for knowing the truth would cause upheaval on a global scale. So, in silent secrecy, they continue to make sure things go as smoothly as possible, drawing as little attention to the country as possible.

As the world continues to go on without even so much as a passing glance to the cold country, an average sized town sits slightly farther North than others. This town is highly regarded as the most influential in the country's secret. It rests on the river that leads to the Eyzor straights, a sea which is responsible for most of this town's resources. The town of Evermore is a quiet place. Its people, stalwart and humble. The overall demeanor, even though it is one of the coldest places on the planet, is that of pride. For they feel like they are doing a great service for the world, keeping the rest of the world safe and happy. However, there are a few who do not fully agree with this odd way of life, or, rather, they don't fully agree. Yet.

As a light snowfall gently covers the ground, two children are arguing. One grabs the hair of the other and frantically hits the other one's head, while the other is biting the leg of the hair-puller. Within a few short moments, the two are pulled apart by their parents, and are scolded for their misconduct. These are the two that will learn the dark truth of their country.


	2. Double Isolated Pawns

Magdiana carefully lifted her window frame, expertly jimmying the apparatus open without a sound. Practice had made this ritual perfect. She picked up her shoes, tossing them in a small heap outside the window just far enough away to not land on them should she fall. Finally she lifted herself up and out of the small opening, lightly falling on the soft, freshly fallen snow from earlier in the day.

Night had fallen in Evermore several hours ago, but she couldn't sleep. Something, she wasn't sure what, had told her to be outside tonight. Once she'd gotten loose of the confines of her room, she slipped on her shoes before carefully padding out and away from her home. She was fortunate that there were no lights or fencing, and she was even more fortunate that she could see well in the dark. Tonight was much darker than normal. Only one moon was lit tonight. It was a rare event, but not as rare as all five of them going dark simultaneously.

She walked until her toes were frozen and shivers were starting to overtake her before she finally closed her eyes and listened for several long moments. When her eyes were closed, there was no defining moment. Nothing that told her that she'd been chosen for anything. She just felt calm, right, peaceful.

Her eyes opened and her neck craned up to look. To watch as the defenders did their job. Lights and flashes came occasionally over the next hour or so, and her shivers disappeared as she watched. A smile made its way across her face at the stunning beauty of the world. She pulled her coat in closer to her as the last flash disappeared from the sky. "Thank you." She muttered to whomever or whatever had called her here. It was worth dealing with the frigid environment and long walk to witness the magnificence and power of the cosmos.

Eventually, her home, the first bastion of civilization out in the tundra appeared. She started to walk faster as she sensed it, rather than hearing or seeing it. She couldn't describe the feeling, but she just knew that there was something… sinister… out there. She lifted her knees higher and her heart pounded in her chest as she ran faster, ever faster, until she was wrenching her window open and tumbling through it with the loud groan of wood against wood followed by the sound of a body falling prone.

Once she'd gathered her wits, she turned around and slammed the window closed, locking it behind her. She looked out the window, into the dark snow drifts and slow nighttime precipitation alighting on the ground. Visually, there was nothing there. Nothing she could prove was there. It was like the feeling of the hair on the back of her neck standing up, except all over her body.

The answer to her experience wasn't forthcoming. She couldn't even prove that it had happened, but she knew. There was something out there- in the mountains.

* * *

A long and restless night had taken Astero; he had been tossing and turning all night. He would be right on the verge of sleep when he would feel the presence of being watched. He had scoured his small room several times, trying to find the source, but, each time, coming up short.

A long drawn out sigh left his mouth as he fell into his pillow. He closed his eyes for what seemed like the umpteenth time. As he drifted into the semblance of sleep, like that of the snow outside, he saw a small flash of light in his vision. A small spark of etheral blue light streaked his vision, and his eyes quickly shot open to see nothing but the black emptiness of his room.

He let out a growl, and punched his pillow as he slammed his face back into the offending fabric. A few short minutes later, the same feeling of being watched hit him, maybe even a growl, he sat up and walked out of his room. He would much rather just stay up all night training than deal with… whatever this was. This country was always weird, but had only gotten weirder in recent years. The odd snow storms, the influx of ships with no real cargo being dropped off, even the town acted differently, people were happier. "How could they be happy in this shit hole." Astero thought as he punched his well worn punching bag, letting out his frustrations on his old training partner.

A mix of kicks and punches sounded throughout the room, drowning out any other noise. By the time first light had broken, Astero was well and truly tired now. Yet, he felt far more energized than whatever was ailing him earlier. He let out a sigh of relief, and took a quick shower to ready himself for the day ahead of him. Today, he had plans, and he wanted to make sure they went perfectly. Today, he had a job interview, and he wanted to make sure he was more than capable of what the job required.

He made himself look decent, and headed for his future employer. On his way, he looked over the town, seeing the liveliness that made the pit of his stomach sink. He really didn't like the mood; it felt too forced, fake. He sighed and continued moving forward. He saw off in the distance an all too familiar face, one he both respected and hated. Over the years, Magdiana and him had fought time and time again. It was a rivalry. Neither of them knew why they did it, but it made the other stronger, so they respected the other for it. Astero hung his head and moved far around her this morning. He was too tired to put on the facade of rival at the moment, and just wanted to get today over with. So, he gritted his teeth, squared his shoulders, and pressed onward.

When Astero had arrived at the dock, which was busy given the time of day, he beelined for the dockmaster. He entered the establishment, and calmly waited for his interview. Several minutes later Astero was fuming as he left the building in a rage. He stormed home, red in the face. Someone had gotten the job before him, and they were much less qualified. When the door closed behind him, a mighty roar was heard, and sadly Astero's training partner, his trusty punching bag, became no more.

Magdiana scowled on her way to the shop that morning. There he was, Astero. The ass. They'd been one upping each other for years, and, today, word had it, he was trying to get a job that would let him leave town on a ship. She tried to think back to a time when she had ever been allowed to leave, but came up short. Her family just didn't have roots anywhere else. She didn't like that he might have something she didn't. Do something she couldn't do or hadn't done.

When she finally made it to the shop, she let herself in, and the door rang with a small tinkling of a bell. She greeted her mother and walked to the back to start working on herbal remedies. She had been helping in the shop for some time now, and she was proud to say that she'd surpassed both of her parent's skill in the art. Something about her, they weren't sure what, just seemed to make the remedies and other products more potent and effective, and business had never been better ever since she'd taken over the blending process. She worked quietly, humming to herself on occasion. Her parents would sometimes come to the back to grab a concoction or two, but she hardly noticed them; she was engrossed in her work.

Suddenly, a commotion sounded from out front, and Magdiana sprung into action without a moment's thought, running directly to the door and pulling it open with a yank that made the wood creak in protest. She took all but a moment to process what was happening before drawing a dagger from her hip, and brandishing it in front of her in a defensive gesture. There were two of them, both with blonde hair and light eyes. Their skin was tanned and covered in scarred flesh. Clearly, they weren't from Yutan. Almost nobody around here had a complexion like that. Nor was blonde hair common. The two held swords. One was a scimitar, and the other was some sort of hand and a half sword, but she wasn't sure about the style. They were sneering, and one of them had her mother.

She didn't remember any words being said. She remembered their lips moving, but she didn't process anything beyond fear in that moment. Her eyes locked with her mother's chestnut ones, so very much like her own. It looked like she was saying goodbye. She watched as the one holding her drew his sword across the fleshy part between the neck and shoulder, pushing her mother forward. Magdiana caught her, suddenly, she was covered with red. Magdiana's hands pressed against the wound. She held firmly, eyes still locked there with her mother's as she held her. She closed her eyes like she had the night before. Nothing told her to do it. It was instinct, pure and simple. She felt a small moment of peace wash over her even as the panic settled in her chest, and, when she opened her eyes, there was still blood. But, instead of the feeling of the blood rushing past her fingertips, it was just that which had already escaped. It stopped. It was… well, not gone, but… She pulled her hands away to find the skin carefully knitted together beneath her fingers.

She blinked. Once. Twice. And again. She looked between her parents. "Mom?" She asked. "Please. Say something."

Her mother was still shaking. She was covered in blood, and even she wasn't sure what had happened. She turned to her husband. "Roderick, get the elders." She muttered before fainting. Moments later, Magdiana followed suite.

Quiet brushing came from Astero's room as he swept up the mess that was his punching bag. He picked up the scant remains, and threw them in the trash before sitting on the couch to relax. As he let out a sigh of relief, banging came from his door. "Son of a… give me a minute." He sighed, standing up, and walking towards the door. He didn't make it far before the door exploded inwards, and in walked two robed men. They wielded a short sword a piece, and one quickly lunged at Astero.

Astero dodged out of the way, waving his hand and causing a small wall of force to shield him. He quickly punched the man, and stole his weapon from him before kicking him into the other robed figure. Astero eyed the two men, and his eyes narrowed; he had seen these men before, although it was many years ago. "No, not again." He growled, lunging at the man who was attempting to stand up. Astero quickly dispatched the man, and used the shortsword to take care of the other.

He stood panting for a moment as he looked at the remains of his small apartment. He kicked one of the robed figures, and, seeing their blonde hair and lighter colored eyes, he shook his head, quickly grabbing his few things that he needed. Astero stepped on and over the man, and left the building; he was heading to the elders. They said, if something like this ever happened again, they would be able to help.

Magdiana opened her eyes, and shot up into a sitting position so quickly her head spun. She gripped her head, which was pounding painfully. "Ugh!" She groaned, flinching her eyes shut. She could hear quiet speaking nearby, but she was afraid to open her eyes now. Why did she hurt? The last thing she remembered was… Her eyes shot open again, and she called out, "Mom! Mom! Dad!"

When neither responded right away and the droning sounds of speech ground to a halt, she felt panic rise in her. No. She didn't want this. It couldn't be. They couldn't be… She began to hyperventilate as she clawed at the sheets that were keeping her in place, and, when she managed to throw them off of her, she ran to the door and threw herself through it. Her eyes found her mother, and she bolted forward, nearly knocking her over. She pulled her into a tight hug. "Mom." She cried. "I was so worried."

She felt as her mother patted her back softly. "Shh." She cooed. "It's okay. We're safe."

Magdiana barely processed the words before she started to think, and, with those thoughts, came questions that she didn't bother to filter. "Who were those people? What did they want? How did I do that? Hells, what did I even do? Are you okay? Where's Dad?"

"Maggie, calm down. I can't answer any questions if you keep asking them." Her mother laughed. "I don't know who those people were, but the elders seem to know. The ones in our shop were looking for somebody."

Her mother paused to look over at others who occupied the building with them, and this was the first time that she noticed that Astero was in the room with them. Her mother spoke a little quieter now. "But, I don't know what or who the others were looking for. How did you do that? Magic, darling. You healed me. I'm alive because of you, and your father went home to make sure it was safe with a few others."

Magdiana nodded, feeling overwhelmed. She… was a healer? But, how? She was learning other things. Herbs and poisons. How some poisonous ingredients could be used in helpful potions. She was sneaky almost naturally. She used daggers like they were a part of herself. She couldn't be a healer too. She couldn't be both of those things. Could she? She gulped as she thought, pondering the ramifications of what had just happened. She looked to her mother, but her eyes traveled to her rival. There was no way he hadn't heard. She couldn't cover this up. She sighed, closing her eyes and merely accepting her lot. When she opened them again, she saw that he was babying one of his arms where a small wound oozed blood. She frowned before standing up and walking over. She took a deep breath, and pressed a hand to the wound. When she pulled it away, it was gone like she'd known it would be.

He looked at her puzzled for a minute before she blushed. "Sorry. Uh, instinct. Don't want that to fester before our next spar."

Astero sighed and nodded at her. "Thanks, but I will be fine. You just go back and be with your mom. I will be fine here." He said calmly, understanding the predicament she was in, having been there once before. He gave a smug grin as she turned. "Don't let your newfound magic get to your ego. I can cast spells, too, you know." He chuckled, twirling his fingers at her. He watched as she went back to her mother before he stood up and walked over to one of the nearby men. He leaned in and whispered to the man. "Please tell me you know what is going on? Any idea on who those guys were?" He asked wanting an answer.

The other man nodded, and looked back at the young man. "Yes, Astero, we have some idea of who they were, but their exact identities are still unknown." He sighed, not having a clear answer for him.

Magdiana couldn't help but look and listen. She'd known that Astero was alone… an orphan, but this was the first time she realized that the elders had guided him since his parent's passing. Though she was more than grateful to have her parents, she would be remiss if she didn't admit that she was jealous. She wanted the elder's attention. She was just as strong. Stronger now that she was somehow a healer, maybe, even, a cleric. Not that she really felt brand loyal to any one god. Sometimes, she just had an instinct and followed it. There was no devoted prayer. No moment of being chosen. She was just… Magdiana. Her eyes met his, and she looked away. She didn't like being caught staring at him. It felt like he was winning. She was supposed to be sneaky. She sighed, simultaneously worried for her father and anxious to learn more about the day's attack.

Astero caught the glance of Magdiana, and turned his head back to the elder. He was trying to focus on the task at hand, but he was incredibly jealous of her, she had parents that loved her after all. He gave a small frown, think of how his parents just disappeared one night, but quickly shook his head to clear it. He took a breath and continued to talk with the elder. "So who are they, and why were they attacking us?" He asked looking at Magdiana, before he looked back to the man in front of him. "It had some semblance of coordination, both attacks happened at roughly the same time." he said calmly going over the things he knew in his head.

"You are as smart as ever Astero." The elder replied with a slight smile. "They are from a group that is not overly fond of our country. Some would wish to have it gone." He sighed, closing his eyes.

Astero blinked a few times, looking over the elder. "What do you mean some people would want Yutan gone? Why? We don't really have anything of value that would make them want us gone." He said with a slightly louder tone.

"You will find out soon enough." The elder said, half smiling half a look of sadness. "For now, sit back and relax, or train if that would help. You do know where the sparring room is at." He smiled at the young man.

A long annoyed sigh left astero as he began walking to the training area. "Fine… I'll do as I'm told." He said back, before whispering under his breath. "Like always." He shook his head and beelined for the room in question.

Magdiana didn't hesitate before extricating herself from the room. She needed to vent. Stabbing Astero would be as good an outlet as any. Now, she had the added benefit of healing him afterwards. She followed in after him, slipping in before he could close the door and making him jump up in surprise when he realized he'd been followed. She pulled two of her daggers out, holding them at the ready. "Up for a spar?"

Astero rubbed his eyes for a moment, before taking a step back and drawing his own set of daggers. "Fine, but I will warn you now, I will be working through some things." He said, narrowing his eyes at her, getting himself ready for her first move.

"That makes two of us." She answered, waiting a moment before flipping a dagger over and throwing it at him. Her hand moved automatically in an unfamiliar pattern, and a bright white light flashed in the room as Astero was struck, not by the dagger, but by the strange light she'd summoned. She grabbed a third dagger from a belt holster behind her back.

Astero felt the light hit him, it was much, it had only just grazed him, but it had some force behind it. As he held both daggers, he began to wave his hands, and a second later a bolt of fire was sent rocketing towards her. It knocked her a little off balance, and then he quickly threw one of the daggers at her, getting her with the blunt end. "Good, don't hold back." He said cracking his knuckles, and summoning the dagger back to his hand.

She grunted in frustration using the momentum from her loss of balance to spin and kick him in the chest. "How come I always forget you can do that stupid trick with your weapons?" She followed up with a slash of her off hand that looked like it hurt. She was very good with daggers after all.

He winced at the pain from the slash, and took a few more steps back. Astero threw both daggers onto the ground, and began to cast a new spell he had been learning. In short order he sent a bolt of crackling lightning towards her, hitting her square in the chest. "It's not a stupid trick, that took time to learn." He smiled, calming himself and feeling a second wind of energy wash over him.

She winced through the pain as he cast the spell, gripping her two daggers and slashing at him three times. Two of them struck home, and one of the daggers embedded so deeply into his flesh that she couldn't wrench it free. She grabbed a fourth dagger from her person. This one on a leg holster. "Yeah. So did that."

"Son of a bitch!" He yelled out in pain. He looked back at her as she was grinning at him. "What are you grinning about? I'm still concentrating on the spell." He smiled sending another wave of electricity through her before taking his dagger and getting her in the side of the leg.

"Ack!" She winced. She didn't consciously make the sound. It was really just a gut reaction, and she could tell that he felt like he'd won. Normally, he would have. She waved a hand more by instinct than anything and felt some of her wounds heal. She swiped at him with her off hand again. It was a glancing blow, but she had forced him to take a step back with it.

He took a knee, and tossed the dagger at her. And as it hit her, he made the electricity hit her one more time. Astero knew he was going to lose this fight, but he was determined to at least give it his all before he fell. He smiled at her, eager to see her next move.

She felt herself falling as the two strikes hit, so she turned the fall into a roll, tucking forward and rolling into him. Her dagger pressed firmly against his neck, but it didn't cut. "Yield." She demanded.

Astero sighed and dropped his other dagger. "Fine. It's yours, but only because I used one of my spells earlier fighting off two guys." He said sitting back and holding his side. "Damn your good with those." He said seeing the wound, looking at the blood on his hand.

She holstered three of her daggers and pulled out a small pouch, which she removed a green substance from before sticking it into her mouth. She chewed it just for a second before removing it. Grabbing onto her fourth dagger, which was still deeply stuck into his leg, she pulled the weapon out before shoving the wound full of the herbal remedy. "I think I used up all of my juice too." She laughed as she cleaned the bloody dagger and holstered it as well.

He hit the ground for a moment, the pain shot through his lag and then subsided. "You could have at least warned me first." He grimaced, pulling out some bandages to start wrapping his side. Once he was done, he leaned back against a nearby wall. "Congrats on the spells by the way, with some work, you'll be a monster." He chuckled, now feeling the lack of sleep hit him and yawning.

She fell back onto the floor, laying on her back and looking at the ceiling. "Well, you're welcome for healing you I guess… ungrateful asshole." She grumbled. "Thanks, I guess. It's kinda weird to be honest."

"Yeah." He replied, closing his eyes. "It can be weird at first, but you get used to it." He yawned. "And thanks…" He said opening his eyes, a bit to look at her. "For the heals, I mean. I didn't really sleep much last night so been going for about 20 hours straight right about now."

"You're not alone." She replied honestly. "Went out last night. Felt something weird outside. Couldn't sleep afterwards."

"You went outside at this time of the year? Ugh, yeah well there isn't much to see out there at night. I just had the feeling of being watched, like something was in my room, was probably just a mouse or something." He said laying back a bit more.

She glanced over at him from her gaze at the ceiling. "Can't you use your magicky bullshit to alarm your room or something? And, is it weird that I wasn't even cold? Right up until it felt like I was being followed, it actually was kind of… peaceful."

Astero sighed. "I could, but I don't have that one. I choose more offensive spells than defensive spells." He said looking back at her. "What do you mean you didn't feel cold? I'm pretty sure it was below freezing last night."

"Dunno." She shrugged. "I walked, and it was cold. But, when I got where I was going, I was watching the defenders and I guess I just didn't notice it. I was outside for awhile. Probably a couple hours."

"Huh, weird." He shrugged back. "And you said you were followed?" He asked curiously.

Another shrug. "I didn't actually see or hear anything. It was just a feeling, but it felt real."

He shivered slightly, before trying to relax again. "You're lucky, I saw what looked like eyes, and heard a growl. It might have just been from lack of sleep, but, I dunno. It was weird."

"No." She told him firmly. "Whatever it was is real. We can't both have felt it. If I'm suddenly a healer even though I don't talk to a deity, then it can't be both of our imaginations."

He sighed, and looked at her. "Well then, what creature has etheral blue eyes? Because I am drawing a blank."

"Will o wisps, maybe?" She asked. "I dunno. Maybe you got contacted by something too. Have you done anything different lately?"

"Tired getting a job, but that ended in disaster. But that was after me seeing the eyes." He said honestly. "To be honest, I really don't do much."

"I'm out of ideas." She responded honestly. She blinked heavily. "How can I still be so wound up and so tired at the same time?"

"You and your parents were attacked right?" he asked her rhetorically, already knowing about what happened. "It takes a lot out of someone when that happens." He sighed, trying to find a comfortable spot to get some rest.

She sighed. "Yeah. They nearly got my Mom. There was… a lot of blood."

"Trust me, it's better not to dwell on it." He yawned. "But for now, i'm getting some sleep. Talk to you later." He said turning and lying down.

She looked over at him before looking back at the ceiling and covering her eyes with an arm. He had a point. "Night." She mumbled, closing her eyes and near instantly drifting off into a slumber filled with the memory of the day's events and the feeling of being watched.

The night was uneventful, with the exception of Astero having a very vivid dream, of walking through ice fields. When he awoke, he looked around. He was still in the training area from the night before, and laying in the center of it was Magdiana shivering slightly. He stood up and placed his blanket over her before walking to use the facilities, and get food into him. He was starving today.

She woke up with a blanket that wasn't hers draped over her in the center of the training area she'd fallen asleep in. She was surprisingly well rested for having fallen asleep on a wooden floor. She checked that all of her weapons were where they belonged before carefully folding the blanket and carrying it with her to the common area. There, she found a few other early risers eating their morning meals. She handed Astero his blanket, taking a seat and staring at the food. She wasn't even hungry. "Hi." She said quietly.

"Hey." He nodded at her, continuing to eat his plate of food. He saw her messing with her food with a fork, and sighed. "You should eat. Most important meal of the day."

"Don't like breakfast. Feel like I want to eat more when I have it." She responded. "I'll eat later."

"Okay, suite yourself." He said stealing her plate of food, and shoveling what was on it onto his. "More for me." He smiled taking a big bite of food.

Magdiana watched him eat and fought the urge to sneer. Boys were so gross. She grabbed a glass and filled it with juice. "I hope we can go back home today." She commented.

Astero looked at her and shook his head a bit. "Doubtful." He said, before pointing a fork over behind his shoulder to a group of elders. "There aren't nearly that many here in town at any given time. If they are all here in one place, that means something is up. So you probably won't be going home for a least a tenday if you are lucky." he said simply, taking another bite of his food.

She rolled her eyes, realizing he was right. She grabbed a few pieces of meat off of the table. "I'm going to get some target practice, then." She said with a huff as she stormed off to the practice room again. When Astero was finally done eating, he found her tossing the scraps of food into the air and impaling it with a dagger from her other hand against targets. What was truly terrifying about it was that she was hitting the bullseye too. "You want to spar again? I'm already bored with this place."

Astero looked at Magdiana and at the bullseye. "Not really, seems like you are more ready to go than I am. I still need to do my morning workout." He said simply, doing a few stretches.

"Suits me just fine." She responded, walking to the targets and pulling eight daggers out of them. "I doubt they'll let me do my morning jog. I've got all day."

He shook his head at her. "Nope. Once they put you in here, you can't leave until they say so. And there really isn't a way out. Trust me I tried." He replied to her, beginning to do a few jumping jacks.

"You didn't try hard enough." She told him as she walked back, pulling out a piece of fabric and tying it around her head. "I've already seen one blatant exit… if you're brave enough."

Astero stopped and looked at her curiously. "Where? I have been here for several years and never once found a way out… Show me." He said seriously.

"The common area has a fireplace." She deadpanned. "I doubt they ever put out the fire, but, if you don't mind getting singed, you could climb up the chimney."

"Well shit. I never thought of that." He said a good bit impressed. "I'm in. I would love to get out of here for a bit." He smiled.

She shrugged, "Part of my training." She was looking at him before she pulled the fabric over her eyes. "I'm going to finish this first." She turned to 'look' at the targets and threw every dagger she had in quick succession. In all, there were ten daggers deeply stuck into the wooden targets. All but one was in the bullseye. She scowled at the one. "Fucker."

Astero watched her send the daggers flying into the targets, and was impressed by the flourish. He turned back and finished his few warm ups, before he walked up to a nearby target dummy and summoning a greatsword. He made a combination of quick swings and cantrips in rapid succession. He left the sword in the dummy, before and going to get some water.

She retrieved her daggers, strapping them all back onto her person as she watched his impressive show of power. The sword was impractical for her, but he swung it with a practiced skill that made it look easy. His ability to flawlessly add spells into the mix made it even more impressive. "How do you tell the difference between your spells? I've mostly cast by instinct at this point. I'm not sure I really know the differences yet."

"I was taught how to cast them. There are eight different schools of spells, and it took a while to learn them." He said casually.

"Huh." She pondered. "I guess I'll have to figure it out. Maybe the temple will help or whatever. Ready to get out of here?"

"I have been ready since you said there is a way out of here." He said gathering his few things.

She grabbed her things, few as they may be, and lead him into the common area. It had a few people in there, and she looked at the fireplace. At least the fire was low since it was daytime. She walked over to one of the elders that occupied the room, leaning down and whispering in his ear. With that, he and the two other elders quickly exited the room in a hurry. "We've got a few minutes. Let's go."

Astero quickly nodded and quickly made his way to the fire place. He leapt into the flames, and began to quickly scale the fireplace, arriving at the top in short order. He reached out a hand for Magdiana and waited for her to make her assent.

Magdiana waited until the sounds of his movement disappeared before she ducked in and used both arms and legs to press on either side of the chimney to scale her way up. When she got to the top, she didn't need to grab his hand. "I've got it." She insisted.

"Alright, just trying to be helpful." He sighed, turning to access the way off of the top of the building.

She alighted onto the roof, assessing the situation for all but a second before choosing a direction and hopping down onto a fresh snow drift to the ground. She fought the urge to laugh. That was fun. She eyed the area, trying to find anybody nearby. Apparently, the guards were busy with actual exit points for the building rather than the whole thing. She straightened up, and started to make her way into town. She needed to blend in if she wanted to be out and about for the day.

Astero turned to see her gone. "Son of a bitch." He sighed and made a running start, running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. After a few leaps, he found a better way to get down, and began to feel more relaxed as he began to wander around the streets.

A few minutes later, Magdiana saw Astero walking, and she snaked over to him, starting to walk silently beside him. "So, where to?" She asked casually as if she hadn't abandoned him on a roof.

He jumped slightly at her sudden appearance and shrugged. "I don't really have any real idea, other than finding the guy who got my job." He said with some disdain. "Unless you have a better idea."

"Honestly, I don't have a plan. I just don't like being cooped up like that." She told him. "And, if one of us is getting in trouble for sneaking out, we might as well both be in trouble."

"Works for me. They basically raised me, it is nothing I haven't heard before." He said turning and starting to walk in the direction of where his work should have been. "Let's go meet my replacement."

"Want me to stab him?" She offered nonchalantly.

"Maybe, depends on what he is like. If he is like me, go for it. If not, I just want to have a chat with him." He said in a dark tone.

"Understood. Stab him, then heal him." She said just as darkly.

Astero continued to keep walking, and eventually stopped by a small stand. He casually browsed through the goods, all the while glancing at the man who was to be his boss, waiting for someone to come up to him and ask questions. They didn't have to wait for long, and asteros eyes nearly jumped out of his head when he saw his replacement. "You have got to be shitting me." He angrily growled, seeing the frail man moving boxes around.

"Damn." Magdiana complained, turning around to leave the shop. "That's no fun."

His eyes narrowed, before he turned back to her. "It is when he is the son of one of the elders." He said in somewhat disbelief.

She turned back around. "Oh, now, it's fun again." She cracked her knuckles. "Don't worry. I've got this." She walked over, pretending to browse until the shop owner went into the back before she bludgeoned the man at the base of the neck, knocking him out before dragging him around the entrance and down a nearby alley.

Astero casually followed behind her, and slapped the boy awake. "Good morning, I have a few questions for you." He smiled at him.

The boy looked at the two of them, before his eyes focused on Astero. "Hey, Astero. How are you doing?"

"Doing better, but really just had a quick question for you. How exactly did you get My job?" He said angrily.

He looked like he was about to say something, but kept his mouth closed.

Astero sighed, and punched him in the face. "Please speak up. I don't think I heard you properly there."

"I can't tell you!" He said loudly, holding his mouth.

"Can't or won't?" Magdiana asked sounding sinister and leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Because I'm certain that our justice will be much more harsh than their punishment."

The boy looked nervous, and looked at the two of them again. "Look, my dad just told me that I had to start working here. He said that you couldn't work, that's all I know." He said nervously.

"Why couldn't I work?" Astero deadpanned. "I could out work you with both hands tied behind my back."

"I don't know, something about you not leaving the country!" He said scared.

Magdiana looked to Astero, "You can't leave the country?"

"Why can't I leave?" Astero asked shocked.

"I honestly don't know! I only know that because I overheard it I swear!" He said curling into a small ball.

"The hells is going on?" Astero asked looking to Magdiana.

She pursed her lips. "I don't know, but we're going to find out." She promised, thunking the man on the head before walking away towards his house. "Come on."

"Yeah let's." He said sounding thoroughly confused.

Her eyes were on the swivel, looking for any guards or elders. Either they hadn't realized that she and Astero were missing yet or they weren't looking in the right places for them. She found the elder's house, and moved to the back. She didn't want people on the street to see her picking the lock. When she got to the door, she opened her bag to remove her tools. In short order the door was unlocked. She swung it open for Astero. "After you." She offered.

He nodded and quickly moved into the building. He looked around and quickly found an office, and began to look for any files he could find. In a few minutes he found some files in question as well as another folder. He turned to look at Magdiana. "This has your name on it." He said handing it to her.

"What?!" She gasped, grabbing the file and starting to flip through it, speed reading as much as she could. She leaned back a minute later. "This is… this is everything about me." She looked pale.

"Same. Date of birth, age, weight, even my allergies." He said going through the file in detail.

"They… have some stuff in there that I thought only I knew." She blushed.

"Why do they need to know this much about us?" He asked, setting both of his hands down on the table. "There are others, but we are the top two on this list." He said staring at her.

She grabbed her file and shoved it into her bag. "I'm not going to stay around here long enough to find out what this is for."

"Same." He said putting his folder into his bag, and moving towards the door. "Okay, where do we go next? We can't go to our homes, they know where we live." He asked more nervous than when he arrived.

"We're going to have to move South. If other people know about this, we won't be able to get on a ship out of here. You have actual adventuring supplies in your bag, right?" She asked decisively.

"Yeah, just need my sword, but I can get that anytime. Let's get going." He said stepping out the door.

She nodded. "Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here."

"Agreed, let's go." He said, watching out as she locked the door.

She snuck between buildings, making sure that they wouldn't be seen. Where, once before, she had every incentive to be jealous of and be fierce rivals with Astero, now, they needed to work together to escape… whatever this was. It was several minutes before they reached the city limits, and, soon, they were heading south. Away from home for the first time. Farther than they had ever gone.

When they were a good way out of town, Astero summoned his greatsword to him. He quickly sheathed the blade, and kept moving forward. The two silently walked on silently contemplating their own lives and what they had learned about themselves.

"Astero?" She asked as they walked. She looked over at him. "Do you think that they'll try to find us? For whatever it is that they were gathering the information for? Why do you think they have all of that, anyway? Some of the things in my file… they were really personal." Her voice broke with emotion welling up in her.

He sighed and stopped in his tracks, his hands trembling with doubt. "I don't know… I don't know anything about them anymore. From what I can tell, everything they have ever told me is a lie." He looked at his bag and back to her. "I'm pretty sure they took my parents." He said with a trembling voice.

Magdiana paused. She wasn't breathing. "You're serious?" She asked. She was floored. "Y- you think they would-?" Her head swiveled around, searching for the possibility of anybody following or watching them still. "They would do that? What about… what about my parents? Do you think they're safe?"

Astero shook his head quickly and shrugged. "I don't entirely know… did, your parents have the word 'offering' next to them? Because my parents had that and 'offered'. Mag… I am completely clueless as to what is going on. What in the hells has our town been doing?" He asked her, he knew he wouldn't get an answer, but he needed to talk to someone right now, and he felt like she was the only one who could help him right now.

"I…" She blinked and dug through her file before finding her parent's names. "What in the hells does, 'unacceptable' mean? I don't know what all of this is, but… how come we didn't notice until now? It's like some super of conspiracy or cult or something."

"I am just as lost as you. This is so insane it feels like this is just the worlds worst prank." He ran his hands through his hair, letting out a sigh before he looked back to Magdiana. "We just need to keep moving for now, get as far away as possible, and figure it out from there." He said continuing to walk on. "I think the whole country might be in on it. What this is." He said, shaking his head.

She shivered and it wasn't from the cold. While her bag was opened, she grabbed some dried rations and started to eat, following beside him. "I'm currently regretting not eating breakfast." She grumbled. Magdiana looked over at him before she finally decided to speak. "If the entire country is in on it, then, we're safest away from here. And, we can only trust each other." She sighed, her mind going through every angle and possibility. Finally, she made a decision about something. She'd long since finished her rations, and silence had settled between them. "If it comes down to a fight, I, uh, I haven't killed a person before."

He looked at her a little shocked, but was understanding. "Don't worry, you just get them down, I will take care of the rest." He said simply, as if it was common place for him. "But first we need to have an idea of where we are heading. We can't stay on Yutan, we are going to have to go somewhere else. But the question is where?" He asked her seriously.

She made a flippant gesture with her hands. "Assuming that they have magic more powerful than ours, nowhere is safe." She looked over at him. "But, we can disguise ourselves once we get some new clothes, and, I guess, I could try to steal us some nondetection things."

Astero sighed, there really wasn't that many places they could go that would be safe. "Yeah, that would be our best bet. I will probably get my hair cut as well. Make sure I don't look the same." He said looking at her. "You might want to do the same." He said motioning to her hair. "Maybe even dye it."

She frowned, but nodded solemnly. A look came over her face, and the sound of one of her daggers coming out of its holster was heard. She unfurled her long hair from the tight bun it usually resided in, and let it fall down her back. She pulled it to the side, and found a length she was happy with. The dagger cut through her hair like butter. She held onto the strands before throwing them onto the ground. "Can you burn that?"

He nodded, and cast firebolt. The hair went up in flames, and was quickly destroyed. "There." He said in affirmation. "Later tonight i will do the same, cant really do it while walking like you can." He sighed, the situation of their predicament setting in. "You know… if we do this, we are essentially become traitors to our country right?"

"They betrayed us first." She said firmly, but he saw her wipe something away from the corner of her eye.

He walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, I know." he said calmly to her, even though he was just as heartbroken. "I'm convinced that there is no going back from this once we do this." He sighed looking towards the direction they were headed.

"I know." She mumbled quietly, thinking about how she would never see her parents again. She had left them without so much as a goodbye or a 'fuck you'. "We're going to need to walk into the night to keep ahead of any pursuers. And, I hope you have your own tent in your pack because I'm not cuddling."

Astero scoffed. "I wasn't planning on it." He said, narrowing his eyes at her. "Yeah, I have a tent, we will need to take turns on watch. Although im more worried about what you said earlier. I really hope we find a cave or something that isn't so far out in the open." he said moving faster, not wanting to find out about being followed.

"I really wish that my father hadn't married a human right now. If I was a full elf, I wouldn't need to sleep like you." She complained. "And, I'm no ranger, but we'll find a place. Uh, As?"

"Yeah?" He asked back.

"We need new names." She told him.

"Shit." He said simply. "Well I have no clue. Maybe I will go with something super common." He said trying to think of a name."

She pondered for only a moment. "I'll be Eri, I guess. It's a pretty common elven name."

"Of course you think of something in just a moment." He sighed, still pondering. Another moment passed, and he finally thought of one. "I'll be Cedric. Not too common, but still different." He said with a slight smile.

"Cedric." She smiled. "Sounds rich for some reason."

"Nah. I'm pretty sure it means bounty." He chuckled.

She chuckled. "You would choose a meaningful name for being hunted down." She started to use her dagger to style her hair properly, occasionally asking him to burn the pieces. When she felt she was done, she asked. "How do I look? I don't have a mirror with me."

He looked her over with an appraising eye, making sure she looked relatively different. "Well, you still look like the girl who stabbed me just yesterday, but you look like you wouldn't be easily recognized with what you used to look like." He said honestly.

"I have some chemicals with me that will lighten my hair, but I'd have to wash it out." She told him. "Don't think I can do that on the road without freezing to death."

He nodded at her. "When we get to the nearest town we should probably do that there. It might not be as safe, but it wouldn't get us killed from hypothermia." He replied simply.

"We don't have to go to an inn. We can wait for a family to leave for work, break in, use their bathroom and whatnot, and get the fuck out of there." She explained, looking a little guilty. "Might've done that in town once or twice when my parents and I had arguments."

Astero, now Cedric, chuckled. "Then I will leave that to you, clearly you are the expert on that." He shook his head and kept walking.

"Breaking and entering? Yeah." She giggled, remembering some of her antics from their school days. "I used to play pranks on our classmates in their own homes."

He laughed out loud at that, wiping away a tear of joy from his eye. "That is hilarious." He smiled widely. He was grateful for the laugh, after everything that had happened, he needed it.

"It's good to hear you laugh, Cedric." She told him, hating the name, but having to get used to it. "Today's been…" She simply trailed off and let the silence fill the air.

He nodded in silent agreement. "Yeah." He said in almost a whisper. The two walked for a little while before a thought crossed his head. "Hey Eri?"

"Hmm?" She hummed in response.

"Did you ever break into my place? Because I have a feeling you did." He said looking at her curiously.

She glanced over at him. "Well, duh. We were pretty heated rivals back then. Not that we aren't now, but… I don't know. I was jealous back then."

"Jealous? What did you have to be jealous of?" He asked her seriously.

"You were just… strong and popular and, I don't know. I was the quiet girl who had to hide her daggers to go to school. You know how hard changing for gym was?" She laughed.

"See that where you are wrong." he said turning to her, but still walking. "It wasn't popularity, it was sympathy. After my parents had disappeared, everyone tried to console me." He frowned, before looking back at her. "I hated it. Honestly i was more jealous of you." He sighed.

She sighed. "You? Jealous of me?" It almost didn't sound like a question. "You know that I didn't have friends for two years because I was good at chemistry and learned all about poisons and herbal remedies, right?"

"Yeah." He deadpanned. "You had parents who loved you. Mine disappeared when I was seven. I was raised by a bunch of guys, who half of the time ignored me, and the other half trained me till I couldn't walk. I would have given anything to have a normal childhood like yours." he said looking at her a little longer than normal, before turning and continuing to walk. "Sorry… it has been a long day." He sighed.

"You're fine, but I didn't have a normal childhood, Cedric." She told him. "The remedies, the poisons. Someone doesn't learn how to use daggers like I do on their own or by accident. My Dad could be a fucking drill sergeant, and my mom would make me identify herbs and whatnot by sight, touch, smell, and even taste. I don't think anything about our lives has ever been normal."

He let out a sigh. "True, but I still would have liked to have someone at least hug me when i was scared at night." He stared off into the distance as he spoke. "They might have trained you to do all that, but they did love you. Probably still do." He said continuing to walk.

"Your parents loved you, Astero. I remember." She told him, grabbing his shoulder. "I don't know why they were taken, but… I remember them. You. Together."

"I'm glad someone does. I barely remember them myself." He sighed. He turned to look at her and placed his hand on hers. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She told him. "I swear to you that I'll stab you if you ever repeat this, but you're kinda like a brother to me. Thanks for always being there… and letting me stab you in training."

"Thanks for letting me stab you back." He chuckled back at her. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." He smiled at her.

She brandished a knife at this throat. "It better be." She threatened.

He sighed and summoned his greatsword from his back, making the tip of it rest against her throat. "First of all, yeah, it is. Secondly, you could just kill me in my sleep. No matter which way I look at this, you would still get me no matter what." He said sheathing his sword again.

"You still kick my ass more often than not in spars, so I don't know why you sound worried." She told him simply.

"Because now, you have magic at your disposal. That completely changed everything." He told her simply. "The second you add magic into the mix, everything gets more intense."

She put away her dagger. "I don't know how to use that yet. It's been a day."

"You will in time." He replied back reamfirmativy. "Beside you have a pretty good teacher at your disposal." He grinned.

"Who could that be? I only see an asshole." She laughed.

"He is standing next to the bitch he has known for far too long." He laughed back.

She smiled. "Let's get going faster. We need to find a cave, and I don't see any hills for at least a few more miles."

"Then let's hustle. I really don't want to be caught out here in the snow." He replied speeding up his pace.

"Neither do I." She said. "That feeling of being followed gave me the heeby jeebies."

He nodded. "Yeah really don't want to feel that." He responded.

"And, I don't want to feel watched while I'm sleeping." She told him. "That sounds terrifying."

"I think it would be best if we try not to think about it." He said honestly, glancing over at her.

She nodded. "I think that I'll feel better once I know what it is. It's all probably connected. Right?"

"Is it bad if I don't want it to be?" He asked her back.

"I mean… I guess not, but it's just too much to be a coincidence." She suggested.

"I know, but i guess i am kind of hoping that we shouldn't have to worry about the entire country as a whole versus just the people." he replied back. "That would mean there is something huge going on here, and we, maybe even the world doesn't know of it." He shuddered thinking about what one of the elders told him earlier.

She started walking faster, almost overtaking him. "Yeah, fuck this. Not thinking about it. Snowshoe rabbits. Polar bears. Arctic foxes. Fluffy animals. Okay. Happy place achieved."

He shook his head more and just focused on getting to a safe place to stay for the night. He looked off into the distance, and saw a few smaller outcroppings. "Well we are getting closer to something that is livable." He said a little relieved.

"Yeah, not much further, but we still want to stay away from the first couple caves we find. Those will be searched for sure." She offered her opinion.

"Definitely, and we will want to make sure that we make sure we leave absolutely nothing behind when we leave, make it look like we were never there." He added, nodding in agreement.

"That's my area of expertise." She told him.

"Good. We can't let them know where we went, or where we are going." He replied, his eyes still focused on the horizon.

She nodded, too focused for words as she was on hyper alert. Her eyes searched behind them and in front of them. Looking for anything that could mean danger or sanctuary.

The two continued to silently walk for the better part of an hour. They came across a few areas that would be suitable, but knew they would need to keep going a bit farther. Eventually they found an area that was decently covered, and somewhat protected. It wasn't as good as some of the other areas, but they didn't want to make any potential trail too obvious. They let themselves relax slightly as they sat down, before getting ready to make camp for the night. Tents were pitched, and a small fire was started.

Magdiana shivered with cold, huddling near the fire for warmth. She ate more of her rations, and quietly eyed the area, planning where she would need to watch for potential intruders. She wished that she was better with or even had a weapon with further range. Hells, she wished that she had more daggers on her. She could fit a few more. She didn't feel armed enough at the moment, and felt… and probably looked liable to stab anything that startled her.

Astero was sharpening his greatsword as he surveyed the area. This really wasn't the best place, but it was what would be st in the grand scheme of things. Once he was done, he looked over at Magidiana and saw her head was moving around on a swivel. "Hey, I know your nervous, but being that wound up is only going to make matters worse," he said calmly. "We need to keep a level head."

She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes, letting the quiet peaceful sounds of the crackling fire calm her. She didn't see it, but a small blueish glow washed over the area as she tried to calm down. When she opened her eyes, the light was gone, and she looked over at Astero, looking a bit refreshed. "Better?" She asked.

Astero blinked several times as he simply looked at her, and the surrounding area. "Uh. yeah." he did a quick check for magic, and could sense some here that wasn't there a few moments ago. "Good job."

"Good job? What?" She asked in confusion. She hadn't done anything. Had she?

"Well, when you relaxed you let out a blue energy. And I am pretty sure you might have given us a slight warding." He said honestly, impressed that she did it.

She frowned. "I have no idea what I did. I was just trying to calm down." She answered honestly. Her face fell into her palms and she mumbled. "Of all the times to randomly acquire magic it had to be the day before running away from everything we know."

"Honestly it's a good thing. You might not understand it now, but you will in time. And we will figure this all out as a team. Because we have some serious questions that need to be answered." He told her, pulling out his file and starting to go through it. "There are answers here, we just need to find them."

"I'm still concerned about how they know some of the things in there." She mumbled. "If my parents are in on it, then I can see how they know about… some stuff. But, there are things that were just me or me and one other person, and… I'm pretty sure that they weren't advertising the information either." She blushed through the whole speech as she opened her file to learn as much as she could.

"I get it. There are things in her I have told to one one or two people at most, and yet it is here pretty much verbatim. I know the elders raised me, but even then this is a lot of information for just two people." He said rummaging through the file.

Magdiana shuffled through her file, and accidentally loosened her grip on it. Out of the papers fell a small pouch. Curious, she opened it to find a small tooth and a lock of hair. She winced. "Ugh. Yeah, they've been spying on us too." She said, dumping the contents into the fire.

"Well not anymore." He replied dumping some hair and nail clipping into the fire as well. He sat back and went through the papers some more, trying to look for clues. "Have you found anything yet?"

"Names. Not mine." She shrugged. Mostly people from town." She mumbled before she pulled out another piece of paper and started to read it over. Her frown deepened. "Fuck." She said quietly.

"What?" he asked her looking at her expression.

"Found out why I still have my parents." She whispered, handing him a paper with detailed information on two half elves from Asesh. One with brown hair and one with blonde. Both were members of the country's military and god fearing people. A cleric and paladin. "My parents aren't from here. I wasn't raised by my real parents."

He was taken aback. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, handing her back the paper. He sat quietly for a moment, before he realized something. "Does it say what gods they worshipped?" He asked her with an idea.

"Corellon." She said simply. "And one I've never heard of."

"What is the name?" He asked her.

She frowned. "The mask? Is that even a god?" She asked feeling a little bit like a heretic. Everything in these papers had been correct. Why would this be wrong?

He nodded at her, giving her a small smile in the process. "Yeah, known as the lord of shadows. He is a god of thieves, and trickery. Perfect for you, if you ask me." He chuckled.

She laughed. "Of course." She wiped some stray tears from her eyes. "Well, I'd be willing to bet that whatever's going on with me has something to do with one of them."

"I would bet against it, but with how everything has gone in the last ten hours. I think I will just pass." He replied sitting back, and just randomly flipping through the pages.

"Any more juicy nuggets in yours?" She asked conversationally as she flipped through the last pages of her paperwork."

"Lots of personal stuff that you probably don't want to know about, habits, spending budgets. Probably the same stuff as what you have in yours. The only real thing I see is that some of my papers have an official seal on them." He said handing her a paper with a blue seal of a skull with a crown on top of it.

She looked at the seal. "None of my stuff has that on it, and, yeah, all of that was in mine too. Right down to dates and times of important life events that I don't even want to imagine how they figured out."

"Yeah, same. The only difference with mine is there is nothing about what happened to my parents in here. It just says 'offered'. What does that even mean?" He said annoyed.

She grabbed his wrist comfortingly. "I don't know, but we'll figure it out… You don't fancy a trip to Asesh do you?" She asked a little anxiously. Maybe her parents… the real ones… would know something.

"I could use a change of scenery, and warmer climates." He smiled back at her.

"I'd love to see a real beach." She smiled. "A tan would make us look different too."

He nodded, and looked back. "Yeah all we need to do is get a ride on a ship, and probably learn to swim while we are at it." He sighed.

She winced. "Yeah. Kinda hard to learn how to do that up here."

"Fucking winter three seasons out of the year." He sighed.

"And spring is six weeks long if you're lucky." She laughed. "Trust me. I know. Where do you think I grew all the herbs for my remedies? Greenhouses."

"Yeah that sounds about right." He chuckled back. "It will be nice seeing something new." He smiled, turning to see the sunset behind some clouds.

She pulled her mind away from Evermore to their current situation. "How do you want to do watches?" She asked quietly.

Astero looked back at her. "I will take the first watch." he said honestly. "I'm used to being up half the night anyways."

"Alright." She nodded, digging through her herbalists supplies and finding her shears. "Here's for your hair." She zipped up her bag and hefted it into her tent. "Stay warm." She offered as she started to zip that shut. "Goodnight."

"Thanks, try not to stab me if I look too different when I wake you." He chuckled. "Night."

She chuckled. "I make no promises. I'm not removing them from my person for the foreseeable future. And, I might even try to acquire a few more."

"Figures as much." He chuckled back. "Sleep well." He said, keeping an eye out on the horizon.

She got into her bedroll and laid down with a large blanket pulled over her. She knew that sleep would likely be scarce for awhile, but her mind was just so busy. She closed her eyes and just breathed. Maybe, if she could just slow down for a little while, sleep would take her. And, awhile later, it finally did.

Astero kept watch for several hours, he would get up and make the occasional circle around the camp, before sitting back down next to the warm fire. About halfway through the night he pulled out the sheers and carefully began to cut his hair, using a small bowl and water as a mirror. He burned the hair as he chopped it off, and felt good with how it came out. His eyes were constantly on the horizon, always searching for whatever Magdiana said was following her. He didn't see anything, except for the occasional small animal. It was a welcome relief, which gave him some hope for the near future. When a good portion of the defenders had done their duty for the night, he moved over to her tent and gave a few knocks to wake her for her shift, before he would go and get some sleep himself.

She sat upright in one swift motion. It took her a moment to realize where she was and who she was with. She sighed. "I'm up." She bundled up and exited her tent. "Thanks." She said looking up at the sky. "You let me sleep too long."

"Its fine, I'm going to get some sleep now." He said turning and going into his own tent.

"Night." She yawned as she looked over the horizon. It was calm, with a little snow falling just outside of the cave. The blanket of snow almost made it stiflingly quiet, and she watched the sun rise and the animals with it until several hours had passed. She checked on Astero, waking him up firmly so as not to scare him.

He awoke quickly, the many years of training made him used to it. "Im awake, we can leave in about five minutes." He told her, quickly getting himself ready, and his things together.

Magdiana started to knock down her tent. When she was finished, she grabbed some rations and waited at the cave entrance. "Sleep well?"

Astero nodded at her. "Yeah pretty well. You ready to go?" he asked shouldering his bag, and took a bite out of his rations.

"Yeah, I'm ready to put some ground between us and Evermore." She responded. "And, learning more about this magic woowoo stuff."

"Good. The more you know about your powers the better." He replied with a nod. "Now let's get a move on." He said beginning to move in the direction they were headed yesterday.

She ate a bit of her rations. "Yeah, I guess I'll, like, pray or something. Maybe, that will make a difference with the woojee woojee."

"I am going to leave that up to you. I don't really believe in a god, just trained. So you are going to be the expert on that." He sighed a bit to her, but he had a smile on his face.

"Ah, yes, an expert who has no idea what they're doing… I don't know. My parents, I guess, were a cleric and a paladin, so, I guess, that's how it works." She shrugged. "I'm pretty sure that's not how it works for you."

"Let's be honest here. Neither one of us have a clue what we are doing right now." He replied to her. "And no, It took me years to learn spells. At least two just to learn firebolt." He said making his fingers spark with arcane magic.

"Huh." She hummed, wiggling her fingers and trying to do the same. Nothing happened. "I'll figure it out. If you don't mind, I'll kinda goof around with it today."

"I don't care. But if we run across someone, well you know to keep it under wraps." He said with a small chuckle.

She smiled. "Of course, I will. I don't want to get caught."

"Well of course." He replied back. "When we get out of the country you can go mental."

"I will not be going mental." She chuckled. "But, I might drive you mental."

He scoffed at her. "If I know you like I know I do. The second you get your first cantrip down, you will be spamming it for well over an hour." He chuckled loudly.

"So far, I've only done healing and that weird glowy glowy zappy spell." She tried to explain.

"So far. But you will get control soon enough. And then you will be off to the races with spell casting." He commented as he walked.

She smiled. "Yeah. I'm going to get it down before long. Just like the daggers. Then, our spars will get really competitive."

"In time. For now, just keep practicing your spells." He said casting Fire Bolt ahead of them slightly.

She closed her eyes and attempted to feel the feeling she'd had when she had made that white light in their spar. She waved her hand like she thought she had, but nothing happened. "Huh." This was repeated multiple times before she finally got frustrated and a small sound she made reverberated loudly around them. Her eyes glowed as a breeze picked up around them. A moment later, the effect was gone. "What the fuck?"

Astero turned to her, and gave her a slow clap. "Congratulations, you cast a spell." He smiled for her.

She looked over at him. "I have no idea how I did it, though, and I'm pretty sure other clerics don't cast using frustration as their underlying feeling beneath it all."

"Look. I trained to cast my spells, you use emotions and feelings. I didn't make up the rules of magic, if you have a complaint go talk to Mystra." He joked at her.

"Very funny." She scoffed, putting a hand on her hip. She remembered the frustrating feeling from a minute before and repeated the process until she did it again. "Well, that's one of them, I guess."

"You still did it." he said happy for her, if not a little jealous. "Not even two days ago, you couldn't do any of that."

She nodded. "Yeah, it's something. I want to do something with damage and holy light though. You know, big boom."

"Like when I cast Witch Bolt?" He asked her.

"Well, yeah, it would be nice to have a backup in case I run out of daggers." She answered. "Not that I really run out of daggers."

"Maybe we can find you a dagger that can come back to you." He replied, thinking about the idea. "Less daggers, and also it would probably be an upgrade for you."

"Yes." She smiled at the thought. "Wait. Even better… belt of infinite daggers."

"You just really like sharp and pointy things… don't you?" He said with a raised eyebrow at her.

Magdiana looked at him with a deadpan expression. She pulled out the nearest dagger on her person. "Yes." She gestured it all around. "I like that I can use this to fight, eat, make traps if necessary. They're very versatile. And, your expression right now is the best part. Knives don't kill people. People kill people."

"I'm fully aware that people kill people. I have killed people." He deadpanned staring directly at her as he did so. "And for me, it doesn't matter what is given to me. Sword, dagger, bow, hells even a fork. I can kill with something as simple as that. So please, calm yourself." He said standing up straight, and continuing to move on their path.

"Oh, this is calm." She smirked. "If we weren't running for our lives, I'd totally want to fight you again."

"We don't have the time, and in all honesty, not in the mood right now." He said still walking the same direction.

She eyed him. "Yeah, I can sort of tell. Just like I could tell the other day that you didn't want to deal with our usual banter the other day. Speaking of which… I'm not driving you crazy yet, am I?"

"Not yet. But don't push your luck." He replied a bit darkly.

She waved a hand. "No problem. I'll just keep practicing."

Astero nodded and continued to keep walking. Listening to her practice as they walked. He did find this whole situation rather annoying. They were traveling to together for a common reasons, that were more like fate if he was being honest with himself, but he was having a hard time dealing with her for the extended periods that they had been together so far. If they were in Evermore, they would have had a spar every day or so if they were lucky, he never had been within arms reach of her for this long a period of time. All of the years of fighting had really made it difficult for him to be around her.

Magdiana continued to practice her casting to little avail. Eventually, she grew quiet and stopped speaking. She could tell that Astero was trying to be patient, so she didn't want to press her luck. High Sun came and went with little event until later in the afternoon, a group of people appeared on the horizon. She looked to Astero. "We okay to greet them, Cedric?"

He he looked at her and then to the group of people. "Of course, Eri. I do think we should keep conversation to a minimum. To want to say too much." He quietly replied to her.

"Of course." She told him tensely. Her fingers brushed the hilt of one of her daggers. She didn't want to have to use them, but she would.

As they silently walked towards the group of people, they could tell rather quickly that it was a small group of traders. The two of them let out a slight sigh of relief, but still stayed vigilant as they walked. Within a few short minutes, the group got closer, and one of the nearby men greeted them. "Hello there! Where are you two headed this time of year?" He asked a little curiously with a nice smile.

Magdiana looked to Astero. She hadn't planned a cover story. Or, at least, nothing was firm in her mind.

Astero looked to Magdiana, and then looked to the man. "Well, we are heading to the next town to visit our relatives. Would have taken a cart, but our horse froze last winter. So we are making the venture now while the weather isn't too bad." He said simply

"The man looked the two over for a moment, and nodded slightly. "I see, well try to at least stay warm, there is supposed to be a blizzard coming tonight." He replied.

"Thank you." Magdiana smiled. "We appreciate the news, and we'll find shelter for the night."

"Glad to hear. Have a safe travel you two." He smiled back and the cart began to continue its movement in the direction they came from.

"You as well." Astero replied back, waving them off as they left. Once the group had disappeared he turned to his companion. "I think they were just normal traders." He said to her.

She sighed, slouching a bit. "I hope so."

"Yeah." He sighed in a similar fashion. "Now let's just get to a place to take shelter for the night." he said quickening his pace. "I really don't want to be caught in a blizzard."

She picked up her pace to keep up with him. "Yes, I agree. I really don't want to end up dug into a snow bank."

"I would much rather die on a beach." He joked looking for a place to hunker down, and seeing the clouds starting to rise off in the distance.

"With a stomach full of liquor after having… nevermind." She blushed.

He shook his head at her words. "Have you ever even been drunk before?" He asked her, half expecting an answer, half rhetorically.

"I have had liquor, but I have not been drunk. You?" She asked back.

"Well yeah. I lived alone, by myself, for many years. I didn't have much to do for a while." He replied honestly.

"Figures." She shrugged. "My parents… whatever… didn't like it when I drank, so I just didn't."

"Eh, it alright. Pretty sure the only reason one won a few of those spars was because I was hungover." He grimaced, reminded of the headaches.

"Yeah, and I had my own reasons for losing from time to time." She grimaced.

"I get it, we are adults, shit happens." He replied, simply looking at her with a grin.

She looked away from him. "Adults, yes. Familiar enough to talk about that not so sure."

"Oh, I know we are nowhere near that, but even I could tell when you were perkier than someone who just won the lottery." He chuckled slightly.

She was bright red now. "Fuck. No wonder they had that in my file."

He shrugged, and continued to walk. "Don't worry, it's not the end of the world." He replied back as he had walked a few paces forward.

"Did they have the date and name of the person you lost your virginity to in your paperwork? Because I'm upset." She complained.

"Name yeah, but not the date." He replied. "Clearly you must have made it obvious."

"Apparently, I always made it obvious." She face palmed.

"They probably had a more intense eye on you than on me, i was under there watch forever. And they don't have all of my times." He replied nonchalantly.

She looked over at him. "Yeah, they basically had the time of… nope… not going there. Sorry. Too much information."

"Don't be." He replied quickly. "We might have known each other for almost a decade, but we barely know one another. It makes perfect sense." He said honestly.

"Well, we're kind of stuck together for the foreseeable future, so I guess that I have to get used to this." She took a breath. "They had the date and time of my first period in there. That's… eww. I feel violated."

Astero closed his eyes, and grimaced. "Okay. Really didn't need to know that!" He exclaimed. "When I said 'barely know each other.' that didn't mean just go saying all the confidential information on our personal files." He said shaking his head, thoroughly annoyed now.

She sighed, and looked away. "Sorry! It's just… some of the stuff is really driving me insane, and I've only got one person to talk to about it. All future speak of that subject will be kept to a need to know basis."

He sighed and nodded. "That works for me." He said simply just moving forward silently.

Eventually, she spotted a grouping of trees, pointing to them. "Can't see any hills, but, maybe, we can camp in there? It's secluded and the brush looks thick."

He looked over to the trees and looked at the time. "If we work fast enough we might be able to make some quick reinforcements." He replied, thinking about the blizzard.

"I have a tarp in my pack, and I think that there's plenty of kindling around for the night." She started making her way faster with a determined look. "This brush is so thick, I don't think we need to do watches for the night."

"Probably not, but I will still be up for a while regardless." He said, following her now.

She pulled out her tarp and tent they pitched both of them with the tarp over them, battening them down by digging into the snow and using pitons to embed them deeply into the ground. Plenty of kindling was acquired and the pair eventually sat before a roaring fire as the first flakes of snow rolled in on the winds. "It's going to be a rough night." Magdiana shivered as she ate her rations.

"Yeah, I left a window open in a blizzard once, and never did it again. Actually sleeping in a tent, is going to suck." He sighed, already dreading the night ahead of him.

She sighed, trying to stay strong. "At least, it should throw off anybody who might be following us."

"For sure. I don't think that there is a scouting party alive who could track someone through a blizzard." He chuckled.

"If there is, I'm pretty sure this blizzard has our backs on this one." She smirked.

"Yeah." He smiled, taking a bite out of some jerky. "Maybe the country wants us to leave." He said seeing the storm picking up in the distance.

She felt crazy for even thinking what she was about to say. "Maybe, my god, gods… whatever… wants us to get out."

"I don't pray much, or at all for that matter. But I am praying that that is true." He said looking up at her from the fire."

"Me too." She said quietly, climbing into her tent. "Stay warm."

"Will do. You too" He replied, simply watching the fire.

She closed up her tent and tried to rest. The whipping of the wind kept her from sleeping deeply, but rest did find her until, at least, the early hours of the morning. She was shivering all over despite being fully clothed in her bedroll under a blanket in her tent. After several minutes of indecision, she grabbed her things and carefully extricated herself from the tent. She added more kindling to the fire, taking a moment to be sure it lit properly before even more carefully opening Astero's tent. Near instantly, there was a blade at her throat. "As… it's me. I'm freezing. Sorry."

His eyes narrowed on her, and lowered his blade. "Then why in the nine hells did you open up my tent?" He asked her curiously.

She closed the tent throwing her bedroll next to his and tossing her wool blanket over the both of them. "I can't warm up. I'm not stubborn enough to die of hypothermia."

He sighed, and laid back down. "Fine, just be quiet." He said turning his back to her, and pulling the blanket over himself a bit more.

"Thank you." She whispered to him as she curled up again to sleep. She laid down quietly, shivering uncontrollably. It just wouldn't stop. Her eyes closed, and she tried to pray. Maybe, whoever her god was would listen. The convulsions didn't stop, but she stayed quiet like he'd asked. She was already putting him out enough. She would be fine. A few minutes later, Astero rolled over in his sleep and wrapped an arm around her. She pondered waking him up, but he was just… so warm. She reveled in the heat, and, eventually, was able to fall asleep again. When she slept, she dreamt of a group of elves at a revel. All of them wearing masks.

Astero awoke with a bit of a start, there was hair in his mouth and he was coughing. He quickly sat up and quickly looked at Magdiana. It was a very surreal experience waking up to her so close to him. He shook his head awake and got his things together, and left the tent to let her get some sleep. He added some more wood to the fire, and sat down eating some rations while he waited for her to awake.

Magdiana eventually awoke feeling cold again. She was disoriented. This wasn't her tent. It took a few minutes for her to realize what had happened. "Thank you." She muttered to whatever deity seemed to be listening. With that, she collected herself and exited the tent. She saw Astero there eating and blushed. "Good morning, and thanks for not killing me last night."

He turned to look at her. "Your welcome, but next time just ask before you come in. will save us a bunch of hassle." He said simply, handing her some jerky.

"Sorry." She mumbled. "I wasn't even thinking. I was just cold. I'm still cold."

"Just think next time. And please don't make that a habit. It was weird waking up next to you." He grimaced slightly.

She smirked. "What? Did you think we'd done something?" Her eyebrows waggled. "And, no, I didn't plan on it. I like our relationship as it is."

"No, I would have remembered it." He said simply, shaking his head at her expression. "Just wasn't expecting it was all." he sighed slightly before looking back at her. "Good, now let's get ready to leave." He said standing up, and beginning to take his tent apart.

She followed suite and broke down her tent. Once she was finished, she found him waiting for her. They put out the fire and started their march South once more. "Maybe, we'll get there by the end of the day?" She suggested.

"I'm hoping. The sooner we get out of here the better." He said before something on one of the nearby trees caught his eye. He moved over to investigate, and found a scroll stabbed into the tree with a dagger. He looked to magdiana and then opened the scroll. It was short but the message was simple.

"Keep moving. They are close behind you." The note read in very well written calligraphy. It was sealed with a blue seal, and had a skull with a crown on it.

Magdiana looked to Astero. She started to walk swiftly. "What the fuck." Was all she said.

Astero took the note, and began to quickly walk south. His mind was racing, but he was not going to question the note, he wanted out of this country two days ago.

"Isn't that the seal of the people that did this to us? Why would one of them want us to get out?" She asked with confusion clear on her face. She'd been taught to question things like this, but this entire situation was nothing but questions and no answers in sight.

"He nodded and shook his head in rapid succession. "Yes and I don't know." He said pressing forward, just simply wanting to be on a boat and leaving.

"How are we doing the boat thing?" She asked several minutes later. "I don't think I have enough coin on me for passage, and stowing away is…" She winced.

Astero turned to her. "I don't know!" He yelled, clearly distraught by everything. "I have no fucking clue what is going on. I don't know how we are getting to a different country. Hell's I don't even knows if I am dreaming or not right now, with how crazy this all seems." He said quickly, in rapid succession.

Magdiana reached out and grabbed his forearm. She breathed and willed him to do the same. "Calm down." She ordered. "We've got this. We'll figure it out. We've got something they don't have."

"I know, I'm trying." He said carefully breathing in through his nose and out of his mouth, his breath visible in the air. "What's that?" he asked her.

"Besides our good looks, they taught us how to fight. That means, we know how to beat them." She soothed.

He let out a sigh. "Thanks…" He smiled at her. "Now let's get moving before whoever "they" are." He said turning and walking again.

"No casting today. Just walking." She told him with determination. They needed to get to town sooner rather than later. She breathed, just trying to remain calm. She didn't want to accidentally add casting random spells to their list of worries.

They continued for a few hours in silence, all the while Astero was thinking nonstop on how to get on a ship. He thought about selling his sword, it would get some coin at least. He sighed, trying to come up with a solution. "We can't stay in this town for long, probably a day at most. So how are we going to get to Asesh?" He asked Magdiana.

Magdiana looked at him seriously. "We might have to do something a bit questionable to get the coin we need."

"Are you suggesting we rob a guy?" He asked her seriously.

"No. I'm suggesting we hustle people in a bar for money." She offered.

Astero raised an eyebrow, and he smiled a bit. "I think I might know exactly how." He said drawing his dagger, and holding it out in front of her. "Try and take it from my hand." He smiled.

She continued to walk, waiting for a moment where it seemed like he wasn't paying attention, and tried to swipe it from him. Her hands were quick, and she was sure she had it… until she didn't.

He tossed the dagger into the air a few times, and looked back at her. "One of the neat perks with having bound weapons, is the fact that no one can take them from me. Unless they knock me out first." He said seriously.

"Well, hells, I was going to suggest throwing games and playing it up like I was bad at them and then making a bet after a 'good' game." She rambled.

"We could feasibly do both." He added.

"We might have to." She cringed. "I can only guess at what ship passage costs."

"I did think of selling my greatsword, and then just summoning it back to me when we were on the ship." He chuckled.

She shook her head. "Please no. Idiots in a bar is one thing, but taking money from a merchant just feels wrong."

"I'm just throwing out ideas at the moment. Because money isn't just going to fall from the sky." He jokingly sighed.

"I know, and, if it's that bad… we'll do it, but not the first option." She grumbled.

He nodded. "Yeah. we will go with yours first, i have a feeling that people might catch on to my thing faster." He sighed slightly.

She smirked. "I almost feel bad for the idiots that fall for it already."

"With your skills, it will be like stealing candy from a baby." He teased.

"I've actually been practicing some new stuff, but I'll have to see what I can do with daggers and magic soon. I'm not sure what clerics do, but maybe I've got something zappy to hit a dagger with." She rubbed her hands together in excitement.

He raised an eyebrow at her, curious about her idea of fun. "You just like hurting people, don't you?" He asked curiously.

"I don't like hurting people." She responded. "It's why I got good with herbal remedies. But, if I have to hurt people, I might as well do it as quickly and decisively as possible."

He thought about it for a moment, and nodded. "Seems reasonable. That face just made you look a little crazy." He said honestly.

"Oh, the 'I'm about to do something creative and potentially sadistic face'?" She asked semi- innocently.

"Yeah… that one" He said in a trailing voice.

"Yeah, Dad hated that one." She waved him off. "It's fine... most of the time."

"Not really helping your case here." He replied back, looking at her at felt worried for all the guys she had dated in the past.

She looked at him and sighed. "Dude, it's not like I killed anybody. I haven't even severely maimed anybody. The last time I made this face, I broke into a girl's house and put itching powder in her bra for stealing my boyfriend."

Astero was shocked, but at the same time it sound reasonable. "Okay, well good for you then." He sighed.

"Too much information?" She asked seriously.

"No, actually I kinda expected it." He said honestly. "Was referring to the not killing someone."

"I got close once, but couldn't deal the blow." She told him honestly.

He looked at her at her seriously. "Killing someone is easy. Living with it is something different entirely." He said from experience.

"Yeah." She whispered. "I talk big game with the daggers, but… I don't know… I think it'll take a life or death situation to actually make me go through with it."

"Let's hope for your sake you don't. I wouldn't wish that on anyone." He said honestly.

She looked at him with a level gaze. "Would you take it back? If you could?"

He pondered it for a moment, but shook his head. "No, if I didn't do it. We wouldn't be talking right now."

"Then, that's all that matters." She responded.

"Your not wrong, but not right either." He replied back.

She looked confused. "How so?"

"If I hadn't of done it, I would be dead. But I did, so I still see his face the exact second he died." he said hollowly, he didn't really want to talk about it, but there wasn't really anything else to do.

She blinked. "The fact that you're guilty about it is a good thing." She tried to say, she sounded more emotional than she wanted. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I do feel guilty, but I would do it again if i had to survive." He said simply. "It's an odd double edged sword." He added looking back at her.

Magdiana nodded. She grew quiet, just thinking. She knew from the strange note that they were being closely followed, but exactly how close was yet to be seen. Ahead of them, she could see the smoke of chimney fires in the distance, but the settlement hadn't become clear on the horizon yet.

Astero saw the smoke and felt a new wave of energy come over him. "Thank the heavens we are almost there." He sighed in relief.

"Yes!" She exclaimed in excitement, walking faster. "I want a real meal."

"Don't remind me. Also a nice warm bath." He said quickening his pace.

"And to dye my hair." She looked at her dark brown locks and imagined them lighter. "Ugh."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." He replied back to her. "And soon enough we will be in a different country where you can grow it all back." He said reassuringly to her.

She nodded. "I don't mind the length. It's the color that bothers me."

"What's wrong with the color?" He asked not seeing a problem.

"I'm so pale that I'm going to look weird blonde." She answered.

"Then go red, or just a few shades lighter at least. Don't need to dive into the deep end." He said a bit lost by the issue. "You will look fine regardless."

She nodded. "I only have the stuff for very light blonde at the moment. I'll have to deal."

"Can't you just use less so you are a lighter brown than what you are now?"

"I can try, but hair and pigment is weird. I could try to lighten it and it turns red." She explained.

"Okay just do whatever is easier." He responded, glad he never had to worry about this kind of stuff.

She shrugged. "Yeah, girl stuff is weird. One of the girls in our class tried to do her hair red and it went green for some reason."

He chuckled, knowing the exact girl she was talking about. "Yeah I know know her." He grinned.

"Blonde will be fine until I can get more stuff. Bathe my hair in the blood of my enemies." She joked.

"Your going to need a lot of enemies." He joked back.

"I think we already do." She deadpanned.

He nodded and sighed. "Yeah. And an insane amount of research to do." He sighed thinking of his file.

"You think Asesh has a big ass library?" She asked him seriously.

"Well it would be the best place to start. It is the biggest continent after all." He replied back.

She blushed. "Sorry. My geography is foggy. All I remember is sitting behind Jackson in that class."

He waved it off. "Don't worry, I was kinda forced to have good grades." He shrugged.

"Too late. Already worried." She quipped.

"Well shit, I guess we are doomed then." He sniped back

"This relationship is like all the ingredients to alchemist's fire just sitting on a table waiting to be moved the wrong way." She chuckled.

He hummed it over, thinking about the whole situation. "Well you're mostly right. All the ingredients are there, but the glasses are cracked, and things have been mixing for a while." He laughed.

"Ha." She barked. "You're not wrong."

He smiled at her. "I try."

They were practically at the gates of the city now, and Magdiana looked to Astero. "Well, Cedric, I'd ask you where we're going, but I believe that I'm taking the lead. Yes?"

Astero nodded and gave her a small bow. "After you Eri." He said gesturing her to lead the way.

Magdiana quickly found the residential district and started her work. Eventually, she found a house that was perfect. Empty. Not even a house cat that she could see. Nicer, but with older fixtures. Easy to lock pick. She walked around the back and removed her tools from her bag. In seconds, she was in. "Leave everything how we find it." She ordered.

"I know." He said quickly looking around the house and double checking for anyone on the inside.

"You shower. I'll do my hair. If we need to get out, you'll know." She told him.

"Deal." he said turning and quickly making his way to the bathroom to wash up and clean himself up a bit.

She quickly got to work with adding the chemical to her hair. There was only one slight problem. She didn't want to remove her shirt until she was in the bathroom. With her luck, she'd end up dying it white on accident. Either that or she'd have to rinse her hair before taking it off. What a waste. She kept thinking this over as Astero showered, eventually jumping a bit when he returned to the living room.

He felt refreshed, and nodded to Magdiana. "Okay your up, I will watch out here." He replied quickly.

"I hate to ask, but will you help me get this shirt off? Mistakes were made." She tried to explain.

He sighed a bit, and walked over to her. "How can I help?" he asked.

"Help me get it over my head without getting the chemicals on it." She requested. "And watch out for the dagger behind my back."

He sighed and quickly rummaged through his bag, pulling out a spar shirt. "Here wrap this around your head, I don't care if gets ruined." He said beginning to carefully move her shirt up, being mindful of the dagger on her back.

Once the shirt was off of her, she quickly thanked him turning to walk into the bathroom and revealing a dagger in a holster that tightly hugged her chest and waist. Her shower was brief, but much needed. Drying her newly blonde hair was an experience she'd not soon forget. When she walked out of the bathroom, she returned Astero's shirt. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it." He said waving his hand and magically cleaning it, before putting into his bag again.

She quickly made sure that everything was how they'd found it before she looked at Astero seriously. "So, bar?"

"Yeah, miss armed to the teeth." He replied back.

"I'm telling you I could fit at least four more daggers on my person." She insisted.

"I don't even want to know how. I know you have eight, but I can't for the life of me think where you would put the others." He said a bit shocked

"Ten." She corrected.

He threw his hands up into the air. "I don't even want to know. Lets just go get the gold."

She smirked skipping to the door and opening it for him. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way." He sighed seeing her delighted with herself.

"Of course. Spotted it on the way in." She said as she locked the door behind them. She lead him through the streets towards the bar, and, when they got there, she was pleased to find it to be a bit crowded. Good. More money to go around. She looked to Astero. "Best get drinks to make it look really good." She whispered.

"Any preference? He asked back.

She nodded. "Just not wine."

"Okay be back in a bit." He said going to the bar to order a few drinks for her. Within a few minutes he returned, and set them down next to her. "There you go. Go ham." He chuckled, leaving to go see if he could earn some coin for himself.

Magdiana sipped on her drink, scoping out the room until she found a man eyeing her. She looked back and winked. Her eyes wandered his body, and she found a knife on his hip. Perfect. A few more minutes of eye fucking, and he finally stood up to greet her. She smiled at him. "Hello, there."

He eyed her, and she fought the urge to vomit. He was only acceptable in the 'I'm going to rob you blind' type of way. She did not actually think that he was attractive in any sense of the word. "Hey, there." She flirted, flipping her hair over her shoulder and eyeing him. Her eyes hovered on the knife. "You any good with that?" She smirked.

"Well, yeah, of course." He grumbled in a macho voice.

She sauntered up closer. "Show me? I like a man who knows his way around a weapon."

He sputtered for a moment before nodding and walking her towards a set of targets against one wall. He took out the dagger and threw it. It hit on the outer ring. She smiled. This would be easy. "Wow!" She gasped. "Can you show me? Pretty please?"

He nodded, and, with a shrug, returned to the wall to retrieve the dagger. She fought the urge to face palm. The amateur didn't even have two daggers? Idiot. He handed her the dagger and showed her how to hold it. The grip was wrong. She tried not to roll her eyes. So, with that same grip, she 'aimed' and let loose, letting the dagger miss wildly and actually bounce uselessly off the wall.

The man retrieved the dagger and handed it to her. "It's okay. Just takes practice." He said gruffly taking a swig of ale and showing her the process again. She threw the dagger, and, this time, let it stick just outside of the target. "Better." He commented.

She took a swig of her drink and looked to Astero. He was busy, so he didn't see her roll her eyes. "Do you mind if I try one more time?" She asked, pretending a bit more that the drink was going to her head. She unbuttoned the top of her shirt, and looked at the man. He wouldn't stop eyeing her cleavage now.

The man retrieved the dagger and returned it to her. She looked it over with a discerning eye. He didn't even care for it properly. Another mark against him in her book. She took her stance and ignored his prompting to hold the weapon his way, throwing it into the wall just off of the bullseye. "Oh." She said. "I was so close."

"Yeah," The man gruffly responded. "Yer a natural."

"You think so?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him.

He nodded. "Uh, yeah."

"Say, would you mind a friendly wager? Just you and I?" She asked playfully. He was eating out of the palm of her hand.

"Wager? I won't take your gold." He said chivalrously.

She laughed. "You're not taking it. You say that I'm a natural. Well, I think that I can beat you. Three throws. The one with the three closest to the target wins."

"Alright. Fine." He said, taking out ten gold coins.

"Make it twenty. I'm feeling lucky." She smiled. He looked at her strangely, but pulled out the coin.

She took out her coin, and put it on the table. "Ready?" She asked him.

He nodded, throwing his dagger and watching as it landed in the wall. It was in the second ring. He borrowed a couple more daggers and threw them with varying levels of success. None of them were in the first ring. He smiled at his work, proud of it. She smiled back and removed three daggers from her person. "My turn?" She asked innocently.

When he nodded, she threw all three daggers in quick succession getting all three in the first ring. One of them was on the bullseye. "Looks like I won." She smiled, scooping up the coin and placing it in her bag.

He looked dumbfounded. "Hey. Wait a minute. Did you just fucking hustle me? You bitch."

"No, like you said, I'm just a natural at this." She smiled, fingering a dagger behind her back.

"You're not leaving with that coin. I was being nice so you didn't feel bad. I can throw better than that. Double or nothing." He growled, gaining the attention of the bar.

Magdiana sighed. "Well, I guess, if you insist." She retrieved her daggers and he his, and she threw first this time. All three daggers were on or next to the bullseye. They couldn't share the space, obviously. She backed away and allowed him to throw. None of his throws were better than before. Magdiana scooped up the extra twenty gold and retrieved her daggers. "A bet's a bet." She smiled, backing away until he lunged at her and tried to grab her. In a flash, she had two daggers pressing against his throat. "Oh, that was stupid wasn't it?" She crooned at him. "Now, you're going to back up, and I'm going to promise that these aren't the poisoned ones. Got it?"

He gulped. "Yeah." It was a whisper.

"Good." She smiled, turning and walking over to Astero's table. A few bar goers stared, but she ignored them, simply returning her daggers to their proper places.

After handing Magdiana her drinks, and walking over to a table on the other side of the bar, he sat down and looked around for someone to get some coin from. He saw a few men sitting around who looked liked they could fit the bill, but he wasn't sure which one. He looked back at her and saw that she had a gentleman basically under her control he sighed, and took a sip of his own drink. He contemplated on what to do for his 'scam'. He could try the idea of someone disarming him, but that seemed like it wouldn't go over too well. He thought about arm wrestling, but decided against it when he noticed a few goliaths in the corner. A sigh left his lips, and he took another sip.

When he looked back up an older human man was sitting across from him. Astero was visibly confused, and the man noticed this. "Don't worry lad, just sitting down and having a drink." He smiled taking a sip of a large glass of ale, and revealing a blue skull tattoo with a crown on it on his forearm.

Astero tensed up and slowly reached for his dagger.

The man sighed, and waved a hand for him to calm down. "Relax lad. Not here to hurt ya. If I was, you would already be back in Evermore." He said in a hushed whisper.

Astero sighed deeply, and took a sip of his drink, this really was out of his control. He looked back the grizzled old man. "So why are you here? If your not here to hurt us, and I'm pretty sure you're not the one who left the note on the tree. You must be here to make sure we leave?" He asked quietly, looking to Mag and seeing she was busy.

"Ya definitely are the smart one." The Man smiled, looking over in the direction of Magdiana, and then back to Astero. "Aye, I'm here to make sure the two ya get out of the country." He looked around the room and leaned back comfortably. "As soon as she is done robbing that man, I will set you two up with a ship. Where exactly are ya two headed?" He asked.

"Honestly. I really don't want to tell you." Astero said honestly, trying to gain some information out of the man, but failing. "What possible reason do we have to trust you? So far, everyone we ever knew has been a liar and a shame. And now suddenly a random person we have never met, says he is going to help us no questions asked? I don't buy it."

"And ya have every reason not to." He nodded to the young man. "Nothing is true, everything is permitted." He said simply, before taking another sip of his ale. "But ya are already learning about that… aren't ya?" He chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, disturbingly so." Astero glared, taking a sip of his drink. "And I need to know why are you helping us. Did someone tell you too, or was this planned from the beginning?" he asked leaning in a bit.

"That is a question best left for when the two of ya are here." He said with a simple gesture to Magdiana. "But to give ya a simple answer, yes, I was told to come help as best I could."

"By who? Why are they so determined to help us? And what do they want with us?" He asked a little louder than he would have liked.

"Calm down. The two of ya will get some of your answers soon enough." He said with a soothing voice, taking another sip of his ale.

Astero let out a long sigh. "Fine I will wait for her to rob that poor bastard blind. It's not like he stood a chance to begin with." He said leaning on the table and sipping his drink, waiting for Magdiana to finish up.

"Hey." Magdiana said, looking to Astero and his new friend. "Sorry about that. Not very low profile."

"Yeah, you were kinda loud there towards the end. How much did you get?" Astero asked her curiously.

"Forty." She smiled.

"Nice, that should help us with whatever we need to get done." He sighed, and took a sip of his drink. He turned towards the man sitting across from him, and gestured. "Well, she's here… please explain this plan of yours."

The man nodded and sat upright, looking the two of them over. "Alright then. I have already told your companion here everything, so I will give ya the short and skinny of it. I am here to help you get to wherever you are going. And I am guessing ya need passage on a ship, I just need to know where." He said looking at the two of them over.

"Oh wait. There's more!" Astero sarcastically replied. "Please show her."

The man gave a look to Astero, and without breaking eye contact, showed Magdiana the tattoo. "Better?" He said a little annoyed.

"Much." The young man replied sipping his drink.

Magdiana looked at the man with a deadpan expression. "I don't suppose you'll explain that?"

He looked back at the young girl. "To put it simply, it means I can be trusted. Contrary to the look of it." He replied taking a sip of his drink, before continuing. "The town ya came from, Evermore, as ya might have guessed, is not all that it seems. What they have been doing, goes against what we stand for. And we realized that you two, could fix it, but not as ya are now." He said looking over the two of them seriously. "Ya need to get stronger first."

Magdiana looked to Astero. She stared at him, not wanting to speak openly around the man, so she gave him a look that said. 'I'll believe him if you believe him.' It was a sceptical look.

Astero looked back at her, and understood her face. He wanted to trust this guy, but with everything that had happened in the last few days, he needed convincing. He needed something to prove that he could be trusted. "We want to trust you. We really do, because right now, you are the only one who has made any bit of sense… but this is still the craziest few days either of us have ever experienced, and we Really need you to prove we can trust you." He said as honestly as he could.

The man looked over the two and nodded, he thought for a moment before he leaned in and looked at Magdiana. "Your parents are alive. That I can assure ya." He said honestly, and looked to Astero. "Your parents on the other hand, are gone, but they still love you. More than you could ever know." he leaned back and quickly finished his drink, before looking the two of them over confidently. "And that is also why you two are still alive, there is no way you two will ever be harmed while on this continent."

Astero looked baffled, but also intrigued. "Then why do you want us to leave?" He asked morbidly.

"Because the reason ye won't be harmed, is the same reason why ye will never get stronger." He said calmly.

"And what is the reason?" He asked again.

The old man sighed and looked over the two of them. "I cannot tell ye, simply because he wouldn't understand it. Ye are not ready yet."

Astero looked to magdiana, and then to the old man. "We need something to prove it."

The man looked to the clock on the wall, he was starting to look slightly worried. He looked back at the two youngin's and looked them dead in the eyes. "Fine. But I need to know where ye are headed first. Otherwise, ye might not make it out in time." He deadpanned.

"Asesh." Magdiana responded quickly. She rolled her eyes a bit. "I'm sure you can figure out why."

The man looked her over briefly, and gave a small smile and nodded. "Aye. That is a smart move." He said standing up. "Go to the docks, and look for a ship called 'The Raven'. They will take you there, just be ready to work." He said beginning to walk away. "As for the 'proof'. Watch the shoreline as ye leave, that should be more than enough." He said making his exit.

Astero tried to follow the man, but he disappeared faster than he could see. "The fuck?" He asked looking confused.

Magdiana grabbed Astero's shoulder and dragged him towards the docks. She'd just caught sight of something very bad. "Go. Go. Go. Go." She whispered, starting to run towards the ships off in the distance.

Astero moved and looked at what she was ushering them from, it looked like the guards from town. He turned and began to move as fast as he could. They dashed through the streets, and were tucking and weaving in attempts to lose their tail. Thankfully for them night was beginning to fall. Magdiana lead the way sneaking them through an alley, until they saw the ships not too far away. They stopped and looked to see if they could see the ship in question. After a few minutes of searching Astero saw it, he tapped Magdiana's shoulder and pointed to it. "There is our ride."

She turned her head back and saw their tail turning the corner onto the docks. "And, there is the party." She grumbled before turning and sprinting towards the ship.

Astero sighed and followed behind, he was not nearly as fast as she was. She made it to the ship in short order running up the plank. He was almost their when a hand reached his shoulder, only to let go instantly. He ran up the plank, and looked back to see the guard lying on the ground with an arrow deeply embedded into his eye socket. Causing the other guards to stop. He looked at magdiana, and then to a figure next to them. "Uh, Hi."

A Tiefling with blue skin stood over Astero, and looked to the guards. "Go back to where you came from, or the next warning shot will turn you to ash." He said in a dark voice.

The guards all looked at one another, and then to the tiefling. They looked down to their dead companion, and began to drag him away. One of them spitting on the ground as they left the ship.

The tiefling looked to the young kids, and took a half step back. "You two better know how to work, or so help the sea. You will be at the bottom of it." He said seriously.

Astero stood up and nodded. "Sir, yes sir." He said, saluting the man.

"Yes, sir." Magdiana said in a tone that promised she would work hard, but also said that she had no idea what she was doing.

The tiefling looked them over with an appraising eye, before sighing slightly. "Just don't get yourselves killed." He said beginning to walk to the helm of the ship. "Now, go find a bunk and put your things their, and then come back up when you are done. I was told you need to see something on our way out." He said waving them off.

The pair quickly marched downstairs, locating unoccupied bunks and offloading their packs. Several crewmen stared at the odd pair, but none said anything to them that they could hear any way. Magdiana quickly realized that she was the only woman on the ship and was very glad to be armed to the teeth. She trusted Astero, but these new men? She shivered as she walked up onto the deck just ahead of Astero. She walked over towards the stern of the ship in order to watch the shoreline… whatever the fuck that meant.

Astero walked up next to her, and leaned in to whisper to her. "I have no idea what is in store for us." He said looking at the shoreline, but glancing at the man he could only guess was the captain.

She glanced between the captain and her long time rival. "Whatever it is, it'll be better than the creepy micromanagers at home."

"Definitely. Soon we should be somewhere warm." He sighed happily, as the ship began to slowly move out of the dock, which had Astero looking slightly confused. "Hey, how many crewmen did you see down there?" He asked looking at the relatively scarce deck they were on.

"Huh." She hummed. "I counted seven."

"Then how is the ship moving, if they are all down below deck?" He said turning to the captain, and looking curiously at him. The tiefling looked back at them and smiled, before waving a finger to turn around. "Fuck it, I give up. Magicky bullshit." He sighed looking at the shoreline.

"Magicky bullshit is my fucking middle name right now." Magdiana's eye twitched in irritation, and she made her eyes glow for good measure, just to prove to herself that she could do it again. Her eyes were locked on the shoreline. Waiting.

As the two of them looked at the shoreline for what seemed like an eternity. They eventually saw the group of guards following the shoreline on horseback. They were moving pretty quickly, and locking eyes with the ship, and the pair of them. As they watched the horses began to buck, and began to stop, causing the guards to become confused. They tried to get them under control, but were failing. The horses began to buck the guards off, before sprinting away faster than they had been moving. The guards looked confused, and looked around. In the distance, small blue points of light grew brighter, and were moving at a rapid pace to the guards. As they grew closer, the lights weren't lights at all, they were eyes. Within a few short seconds a horde of humanoids rushed the small group of guards, and were torn asunder. Once the guards were in small pieces, all the eyes turned and looked at the young pair. None of the humanoids moving or making a sound, as the ship slowly sailed off into the distance away from the country.

"Two things." Magdiana mumbled. "One. What. The. Actual. Fuck… Two, I'm glad he's on our side."

Asteros mouth was agape, as he just stared at where the group was. He moved his lips in response after a long moment of silence. "Uh… yeah. Same exact thoughts right now."

"Can I wake up now? This is just a fever dream. Right?" She pinched herself, but it hurt. This was real.

He extended his arm, and hit her in the arm. "Please tell me you didn't feel that." He said still staring ahead.

"I felt it, and I will fucking stab you if you hit me again." She threatened.

"Yup. This is real." he sighed, rubbing his temples before he turned and began to walk away. "I'm going to sleep. This is tomorrow me's problem." He marched below deck as he spoke.

She rolled her eyes. "Goodnight." She called to him. She was too amped up to sleep so soon. She came to stand at a respectable distance from the helm next to the captain. "Thank you." She whispered.

The captain turned to glance at her. "Don't thank me yet. You still need to make this worth it all for me." He replied looking to the horizon as he spoke.

"I'm not entirely sure what that means exactly." She looked over at him with a look that was as overwhelmed as she felt. "But, I'll try my best." She sighed, pausing for a moment in thought. "If anybody on the ship needs healing, bring them to me. And, at the very least, I can fight." Another pause. "Should I keep my weapons on me when I sleep around here?" She finally asked.

He actually turned to face her this time, he was smiling this time. "If any of those men come near you without your permission. I will keelhaul them myself." He said calmly and simply. "As for the healing. It is always good to have a healer, that will prove useful." He said, giving a slight bow as he turned to look back at the horizon. "For now, do try and get some sleep. I know how I felt when I saw 'that' the first time too." He chuckled.

She chuckled a little hollowly. "I just realized it wasn't the first time, so we're good. They followed me home the other night. I just realized now that the feeling was the same."

"Then consider yourself lucky. It's rare to get an escort like that." He smiled slyly.

"Any chance you'll tell me more about that?" She eyed him, already knowing the answer.

"In time. You are going to be on this ship for a while. You will learn a few things while here." he said glancing at her. "But I am not going to overload you with information on the first night."

She nodded. "In that case, I'll leave you be." Then, she smirked. "And, I'm sorry."

"For what exactly?" He asked her curiously.

"The guy that came with me snores." She winked, sauntering off.

He chuckled at that. "Good to know. Thank you for that information, Magdiana." He smiled, looking to the horizon once again.

Magdiana heard her name and tilted her head curiously. Finally, she shook it off. She hadn't given her name, but that was a question for another day. When her head hit the pillow, even though she was fully armed and clothed, she was out cold.


	3. J'adoube

The early morning of the next day was calm, and relatively quiet. Except for the occasional snores of Astero who was sleeping deeply. A few seconds later a bucket of water was poured over is head, causing him to gasp and sputter before grabbing his dagger. He looked up to see the captain and the crew laughing, as he looked on curiously. "Well it looks like your friend was right, you snore like an owlbear." the captain chuckled to himself. "Now get up, and earn your keep." He said turning, and walking above deck.

Astero stared daggers at Magdiana. "Really?" He asked standing up and drying himself off.

"Mmm?" She asked as she rolled out of her bunk and made sure everything was where it belonged. She glanced over at him and shrugged. "It was the truth." She finally said after a moment of processing the world. Without so much as another word, she walked topside and found a buddy to follow for the day. He was surprisingly accommodating and understanding of her inexperience, and, for what she lacked in know how, she was determined to make up for in enthusiasm. Throughout the day, she would get a glance at Astero, and he was quite literally in the same boat as her. At least they weren't at each other's throats yet. This, she determined, was a minor miracle in and of itself.

As Astero worked moving crates and supplies below deck, he was rather impressed by the few crewmen that were around. They all made sure he was pulling his own weight, but without him potentially hurting himself. He continued to keep working, all the while looking to both the captain, and Magdiana. He was annoyed by the water, but more curious about the captain. When he had a brief minute to catch her, he walked up to Magdiana. "So what's the captain like? Clearly you two were talking last night."

"Nice." She answered, lowering her voice. "I wanted to make sure I was safe to relax a bit, and… I guess he, like, knows shit."

"That doesn't surprise me at this point." He replied back just as quietly. "Any idea on what he knows?"

She shrugged. "I realized that the blue eyed things had the same vibe as whatever was following me on the way home the other night, and he said that was lucky. I asked him about it, and he said he didn't want to overwhelm me on the first night."

Astero sighed at her words. "Yeah, I figured the same thing when I saw their eyes. Still not sure how I saw them in my room, but they had the same weird vibe." He turned to her, glancing at the captain. "How long before you think he tells us more? Or even his name."

"I'll let him keep the mysterious vibe for a tenday before I push the subject." She decided.

"Works for me. Honestly, im just glad to not be able to see Yutan right now." He said looking back the way they came. "It's refreshing."

"Yeah." She nodded. "It kind of feels… exhilarating."

"Like an actual adventure." he said in agreement. He looked to the horizon, before turning to go back below deck. "Well let's make sure we look busy."

She nudged him. "You're the one who was talking to me."

"You are the only one I know." He shrugged, disappearing below deck, quickly finding more work to do.

Magdiana got to work, rolling her eyes at Astero. She was the only one he knew because he hadn't introduced himself yet. That wasn't her fault. She struck up a conversation with the sailor who had been showing her the ropes earlier, and, by the end of the day, she wouldn't say they were fast friends, exactly, but they were at least comfortable around each other. His name was Damien, and he was from Initium. Magdiana was currently regretting her lack of memory about her geography class, but, then again, Jackson's hair had been fantastic… and his butt.

By the days end, the two of them had worked rather hard. A bell was rung, and the ship's cook came out to announce dinner. The crew, captain included, all went below deck to have some food. Before them there was a plethora of varied foods, ranging from fish to beef. The crew all happily dug in, each one going for a particular dish. Astero sat next to the cook, curious as to why he made such a varied amount of food. The answer was a rather simple one, different diets and life choices. There was an elf who manned the look out, who refused to eat any meat, so he made food just for him. While on the other end, there was a rather burly dwarf who ate primarily just meat. Astero nodded and was impressed by the care that went into the crew.

After some time, the captain came by. He looked to both Astero and Magdiana, before looking to a member of the crew. "So tell me. How have these two faired for their first day?" He asked a little loudly.

The human man looked to the captain with a smile. "They did fairly well for greenhorns sir. They should make it to Asesh without too much issue." He said confidently.

"Good." The captain replied, before walking up and sitting down across from the two of them. "Now tell me why you are headed there?" He asked lacing his fingers together and listening intently.

Magdiana looked to Astero and shrugged, looking back to the captain. "I guess that my birth parents live there."

The captain nodded. "That seems like a pretty good reason. And what about you sir snores-a-lot." He grinned at Astero.

He sighed, and looked back at the captain. "I just want to figure out what is going on." He said honestly. "This is all really weird."

The captain chuckled at his response. "That it is." He looked at magdiana first. "Well, first of all. You will be safe aboard my ship." He pointed a finger at her, then to Astero. "Secondly, my name is Captain Wake. I already know both of your names, so let's at least break the ice a bit." He smiled at the two of them.

"How so?" Magdiana's eyebrow rose.

Wake turned to her. "I want you two to feel at ease. So please, ask some questions, but do know we will get to ask some back." He smiled, the crew chuckling in response.

"I don't even know where to start." Magdiana muttered.

"How can you move the ship even though there are so few of you?" Astero asked, realising that the whole crew was below deck.

The captain raised an eyebrow. "That's the first question you ask? Really?" He asked curiously before shrugging. "Okay. well, I cast a spell on the ship, and now I have complete control over it. Can even work the rigging if need be." He said nonchalantly.

Magdiana barely let the answer be finished before asking. "What's the significance of the skull and crown symbol?"

Wake turned to her with a grin. "That is a good question." He smiled. "That is the symbol of the one who we listen to. The king of the dead." He deadpanned.

"The king of the dead." Magdiana tested the words. "How come I've never heard of him?"

"Because in all honesty. You don't want to know. He is a very powerful person, who has influence from all over the world, and his reach extends even farther." He explained without going to much deeper. "Trust me when I say this. You have no clue as to what you are dealing with here yet."

Astero looked at the captain dumbfounded. "We kinda figured, but why were the town guard after us?"

He turned to look at Astero. "Because they thought that getting rid of you two, would help them ruin the kings plans. And as you saw last night, it didn't work." He chuckled slightly.

"And what were those things?" Astero asked.

"Are you stupid?" Magdiana asked without thinking. "Rub your brain cells together. He already answered that. They're the dead."

Wake snapped his fingers, and pointed to Magdiana. "Bingo." He replied to Astero.

"Sorry." Magdiana blushed.

"Don't be." Wake replied. "You are right. And The King has been watching you two for a while. You show some serious potential." He smiled.

"Why exactly?" He asked the man.

"Well her parents are a cleric and a paladin, who worship two different gods if i'm not mistaken." he said looking to magdiana, before turning to Astero. "While your parents have helped The King with his work." He said looking at the two of them.

"How did they help?" He asked nervously.

Wake bit his lip. "That I cannot say. But you will find out on your own." He said calmly.

"Do you at least know how they died?" He asked wanting at least some answer.

"They gave their lives helping, and protecting their country." He said honestly.

Astero looked into his eyes, making sure he was telling the truth. When he was positive he was, he nodded. He could live with that for now.

"How do you know all this about us?" Magdiana asked quietly.

"I was told, and I was made aware of the things I needed to know. But most Importantly, I knew a bit about you two for a while now. Only just recently putting all the pieces together." He leaned back in his chair, trying to relax a bit as the conversation went on.

"Why would you need to know a little bit about a shitty rogue and another run of the mill Eldritch Knight?" She pondered dumbly.

Wake leaned forward, and took out a piece of paper. On it he drew a pyramid, at the top was a crown and skull. "Okay. This is The King and down here at the bottom is all of the people in yutan. The pyramid is yutan." He then drew some lines, dividing the pyramid into five parts. "This section here is where the elders are." he said pointing to the next box above the people. "This box is where you two are located." He said pointing to the middle. "And lastly, Myself, my crew, and the associate you met yesterday reside here." He said pointing to the box just below The King. "It's our job to make sure we know about those who are just below us."

"Why are we above the elders?" Astero asked, confused by their high rank on the pyramid, compared to the rest of the picture.

"That's because the second the elders took you from your family, they broke some serious rules." He said looking to Magdiana, before turning to Astero. "Your parents helped The King, so you are in turn, indebted to him, and by proxy, us. Thus the rank." He explained as best he could to the young pair.

Magdiana just felt more and more confused. "I don't understand why I was taken in the first place. Why would they break rules for me?"

Wake let out a long sigh. "Honestly, I am not entirely sure. But what I do know, is that your parents are like myself and the crew. How you were taken, was very quick, and skillfully done. We only found out where you were a few weeks ago. And when we did, we put a plan into motion as fast as we could." He spoke softly, looking at Magdiana with apologetic eyes. "We are sorry we didn't find you sooner, and the fact that you were right under The King's nose made it that much worse."

"Well, it doesn't help that they found a human woman who is a dead ringer for me." She commented. "I swear to you, I nearly watched myself die the other day when I accidentally healed her. I didn't even think to suspect until I saw the information laid out in front of me… you said that you were going to ask questions back." She hummed in thought, looking at captain Wake expectantly.

The captain nodded and looked at the two. He sat up and gave the two a smile. "Hmm, now where to begin exactly?" He hummed. "So why exactly did you two start fighting one another?" He asked.

Astero looked at Magdiana then to the captain. "I don't know. We argued a lot as kids, and never really stopped." He said honestly.

"I think it was because he annoyed me when I was younger. Now, I guess it makes us better." Magdiana answered honestly, shrugging to punctuate her sentence.

"So now the two of you just like to beat the shit out of each other for fun?" Wake chuckled.

"Yeah." She said. "That's about the sum of it."

"Well. mutual beatings is better than sudden and random ones." The Tiefling smiled, looking to Astero. "So, tell me young man. Have you ever drank yourself stupid?"

Astero nodded. "Yeah… a few times." He sighed a bit, as he said that.

"Don't worry, it happens to the best of us." Wake laughed making the crew laugh as well. The laughter subsided after a bit, and wake looked to Magdiana. "Now for you. How many times have you kissed a guy?" He grinned, a few crew members seemed to be getting interested now.

"Like I counted." Magdiana deadpanned, taking a sip of her drink nonchalantly.

"Maybe not, but I bet you know their names." Wake grinned, taking a sip of his drink as well.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. There were maybe a dozen. And, one of them is in this room. We were seven."

Astero turned to look at her. "Uh, no we didn't." He corrected her. "What are you talking about?"

Wake sat back and watched the sudden turn of events.

"You just don't remember." Magdiana waved a hand. "It's not important."

Astero raised an eyebrow at her. "Pretty sure I would have remembered something like that." He shook his head at her, visibly annoyed.

Wake looked at the two of them, and an odd silence was there for a moment before he turned to Astero. "Now for you. How many girls have you kissed?" He asked.

Astero turned to Wake with a raised eyebrow. "What even are these questions about?" He said annoyed now.

"I gave you both very sensitive information. As such, I need sensitive information as payment." He smiled wide.

"Fine." Astero scoffed. "Four. One of which was her friend." He said pointing a finger at magdiana.

Magdiana nodded. "I remember. She wouldn't shut up about it."

Wake looked to his crew. "Small town gossip is fun." He said giddy with himself. "Okay. Now for a question for the both of you. What is your biggest fear?" He asked curiously.

"I guess, I haven't really thought about it." Magdiana answered honestly. She pondered for a minute before finally saying. "Being forgotten, I guess."

Wake nodded. "That is a fair reason to be afraid." He smiled at her, at looked to Astero expectantly.

"Having the people I care about die." He said staring at the floor.

Captain Wake nodded solemnly. "Yes. That is a solid fear, very tactile." He said quietly. The room went quiet for a moment, before Wake stood up. "Well, I think that is enough questions for today. Lets all get some rest." He said walking up the stairs.

Astero quickly stood up and beelined for his bunk, wanting to be done with the day.

Magdiana walked slowly so that she didn't have to look at Astero. When she made it to her bunk, she disarmed herself for the first time in days. She received several stares for the simple act. She looked back at one of the main culprits of the staring. "What?" She asked. "Never seen someone with weapons before?"

"Oh yeah, I have. Just wasn't expecting so few of them." He chuckled.

"I've been saying that I need a few more for awhile now." She smirked.

"Then I recommend talking to Indigo. He is like a walking armory." He smiled back, getting his bed ready for the night.

She nodded, climbing into bed. "Will do."

Astero found himself tossing and turning. He gave an odd glance at Magdiana, before he turned back around. For some reason that sentence had annoyed him. The closest he had ever been to her was in his tent the other night, and even then he didn't care for that. What the fuck did she mean they kissed? They argued when they were six, and haven't really stopped since. They had gotten better, but they still got on each others nerves. He sighed, and tried to fall asleep. It would be better to just forget about it. They had more pressing concerns than a little kiss.

When dawn broke, the crew were up and about and going about their duties. Astero wasn't awoken by water this morning, which he was grateful for. He began to go about the same routine as yesterday, doing most of the same activities he did the day prior. He saw Magdiana, and gave her a simple nod. He had just pushed the sentence away, it wasn't worth pursuing to him.

At the end of the day, Magdiana lay down in her bunk and closed her eyes. Every muscle in her body hurt. She was used to training, but this was different all together. Without eating dinner, she was fast asleep, even sleeping through the cook trying to wake her to get her to eat. That night, she had dreams that had her whimpering deep into the night.

Astero heard her noises, but left it to a bad dream. However when he awoke, he heard her still whimpering. He took a step towards her, but was cut off by some crew members waking up rather loudly. He turned, and decided to ask her later when he had the chance to.

Magdiana awoke with a start, grabbing the dagger under her pillow and throwing it at the noise that had startled her more on instinct than anything else. Her eyes opened, clearing to find that the blade had hit its mark. She winced, rolling out of bed and looking apologetically at captain Wake. "Sorry." She murmured, walking over and grabbing the hilt of the dagger. "I'll heal you. Just have to take this out first. Ready?"

He calmly grabbed her hand that was on the dagger and pulled the dagger out of his arm. He let out a small grunt and looked at Magdiana. "Yeah…" He sighed. "Mental note: don't wake the rogue." He said sitting down on a chair.

"At least, not on nights like that." She muttered, placing a hand over the wound and concentrating on the feeling of healing for a moment. Seconds later, the wound closed. "I don't know what came over me."

"Okay. Don't try waking the rogue when she has a nightmare." He corrected himself, his arm feeling better.

"Yeah…" She trailed off, trying to remember the dreams and coming up short. "I'll… get to work." She mumbled, starting to walk out of the room.

Wake called to her. "I am glad it was me, versus one of my crew. Now I don't know what had you so worked up, but please try to be more careful in the future." He said following her, but going up towards the top of the ship.

"I'll… keep the daggers farther away for awhile." She responded simply.

Wake nodded, and continued to go about his business. A few hours passed before Astero was able to find time to talk to Magdiana, and he approached cautiously. "Hey. Is everything alright?" He asked looking her over.

"Besides throwing a dagger directly into the captain's shoulder this morning? Fantastic." She answered sarcastically.

"Yeah, I heard." He sighed, not really wanting to hear her sarcasm. So he just asked the question on his mind. "But I meant last night. It sounded like you were crying."

"I wish I could answer you, but I don't remember it." She said. "I guess I was."

Astero sighed slightly, but it was out of relief. "Okay, so long as you are alright. I don't want you going off the deep end anytime soon." He said walking back to go do his work.

"Don't worry about me." She chuckled, looking at him walk away. "It's you I'm worried about." She muttered under her breath.

Astero didn't hear her words, and continued working hard on the ship. Over the course of the day he began to talk more with the elf who was the look out. He was a rather quiet fellow, but a very smart man while he spoke. By the time dinner arrived Astero learned his name was Olo, and the two were chatting about archery by the time the meal was in full swing. When the meal was finished, they parted ways, and Astero went to the deck of the ship to just watch the stars and Defenders. To just try and relax.

After a short amount of time, Wake came by and looked at the young man. "Comfy are we?" He chuckled slightly.

Astero jumped a bit and was about to stand up, before wake waved a hand to settle him. He sighed happily and sat back down. "Uh yeah. It's getting warmer, so it's nice staying outside to actually look at the stars." He smiled.

Waked smiled back. "Yeah, you aren't going to believe how hot it can get in Asesh. You will probably need to go and buy new clothes. The ones you have will be too thick for there." He chuckled.

Astero chuckled back. "That's fine by me. I am honestly just excited to go and learn how to swim."

"Wait… you mean to tell me you are on a ship, in the middle of the sea. And you don't know how to swim…" The captain said baffled by his words.

"What? When the water is near always freezing, you tend to stay away from it. I know the basics, just haven't actually put them to use." he chuckled at Wakes expression. "And also Mag does know how to swim either. Just so you know." He grinned.

Wake sighed, and covered his face. "Why does this not surprise me." he then looked to Astero briefly. "Also, Mag?"

"Yeah. it's easier to say than Magdiana all the time. Its kinda a mouthful." He shrugged.

Wake turned, and began to walk back to the helm of the ship. "Fine. Just don't be out here all night, your bunk is way comfier than the deck." He remarked grabbing the helm, and making sure they were still on course. Leaving Astero to relax on the deck of the ship.

At the end of the day, Magdiana was exhausted again, but not nearly enough. She actually ate dinner, and, because she skipped multiple meals, ate more than some of the men on the ship rather unapologetically. When the meal was finished, she waited to catch captain Wake alone. "Hey, is there somewhere I can vent?" She asked feeling and looking frazzled.

He looked to her and looked around the deck of the ship. "At night, when just about everyone is asleep would be your best bet. And up here on the deck." He replied calmly to the young girl.

"Thank you." She responded. If she didn't get a chance to let loose, she was going to end up picking a fight with Astero, and she didn't want to deal with that right now. In the middle of nowhere on a ship. She went downstairs and relaxed with the crew for a bit, finally giving Astero half of their ill-gotten gold from the bar. "This is yours." She told him.

"Oh!" He replied a bit startled. "Thanks, I actually forgot about that." He said putting the coin into his own pouch.

She nodded. "No worries. I didn't. You have been on this crazy journey with me too. Might as well get half the hustle money."

He chuckled a bit. "You did most of the work. So far, the only thing I have done is keep you warm." He sighed.

"We were escaping." She waved him off. "Subtlety is my thing. Putting assholes down with great prejudice is yours."

"True, but I haven't even done that since we left. And even then haven't had the chance." He looked up at her.

She nodded. "I get that, but, if we're going to something, something 'become stronger away from Yutan', I'm pretty sure we're going to get that opportunity."

He nodded back. "I know, just thought I would have been more helpful so far is all."

"And, you've been plenty helpful. Do you think either of us would have been able to get out alone? Because I am pretty sure I would've died in the blizzard." She frowned a bit.

He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "No you wouldn't have. You are far too stubborn to do that." He said seriously.

"Oh, I would've tried not to, but I literally couldn't warm up. I would've died, Astero. Thank you." She told him firmly and quietly.

"Don't worry about it." he replied quietly. "We are rivals, pretty sure we are the only ones allowed to kill one another." he chuckled.

She laughed, looking around and seeing that most of the crew was asleep. "Something like that." She stood up from her place. "I'm gonna go vent." She smiled, turning around and slowly starting to walk away. "Goodnight."

"Night." he smiled back. "Don't stay up too late. Captain said the deck isn't as comfy as a bunk."

"I just need to stab something before I decide to stab a person." She waved. "I'll be down soon."

"Okay then." He waved her off, going over to his bunk and relaxing before he went to sleep.

Magdiana greeted Wake before working out. She really just needed an outlet. She wasn't sure what was up after her dreams last night, but she wanted to be in bed last just in case it happened again. And, she especially wanted to be well and truly exhausted. Finally, she felt that she'd reached that point, and she walked over to the captain. "Thanks."

Wake happily smiled back. "No worries. Hope that helped."

"Hope so." She mumbled. "Night, captain."

"Night. Sleep well." He said still manning the helm as she walked away.

That night, Magdiana slept quietly, but her dreams once again were filled with strange visions that she couldn't or didn't understand. She wasn't sure what they meant, but, the farther she got from Evermore, the stronger they seemed to get.

Astero was up early in the morning, and he went to go and get in some training before the rest of the crew awoke. He went topside, and began to run a few laps on the deck, before starting to get in some light exercises. When he heard stirring from underneath, he went below deck and began to get to work.

Magdiana awoke feeling surprisingly refreshed. She'd awoken with the rest of the crew, but that wasn't a bad thing. She felt rested. If she could just figure out this whole dream nonsense, she'd be really happy. And, more of the spellcasting bit wouldn't be remiss either. Shouldn't she be able to cast more cantrips? And, there were other spells too. Then again, maybe, she should just wait to meet… her parents. Her mind went over this on a loop while she worked rather mechanically, going through the motions of the day.

At around midday Astero saw Magdiana almost aimlessly wandering, she was doing work, but she seemed distant. He walked up to her and gave her a nudge. "Yo, everything alright? Normally you are on top of things, right now you look lost." He said honestly.

"Eh?" She asked, not really processing anything. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Yeah… I can see that." He sighed seeing her distant response. "You know you have a spider on you. Right?" He grinned and began to walk away.

She looked at herself. "Where?"

He didn't say anything and just continued to walk away.

Magdiana sighed. She didn't see why Astero was suddenly paying so much attention to her. Sure, they knew each other best among the crew, but they weren't really close. Would she do the same for him? Check in on him? She wasn't sure. The day passed, and dinner came quickly. When she'd finished eating, she looked to the captain. "How long is the trip? I never did ask."

Wake looked up to Magdiana from his plate, and swallowed his food before talking. "We will be there in four more days." He said honestly

Magdiana tapped her toes quickly on the ground. "D- nevermind." She muttered, standing up and starting to walk out.

Wake raised an eyebrow at her response. He pointed a finger at her, and cast Message. "If you need to talk, just ask." she heard in her head.

She sighed, pressed her lips together and responded mentally. "I'm afraid to know the answer."

"To what?" He asked mentally.

"Do… my parents…" She struggled through the words. "Know that we're coming?"

Wake stood up, and walked over to Magdiana, leading her up to the deck of the ship. "They were the first ones to know." He said out loud to her, but still in a quiet voice.

She nodded once, and looked away, hiding her tears poorly. "Okay." Her voice broke.

"You are nervous to see them. Aren't you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"What if… what if I'm not what they expect? And, this whole… healing thing… or whatever… I don't want to ask for help they might not want to give." She wiped away tears with the back of her hand. "I don't like not knowing what to expect."

The captain chuckled lightly. "You're parents are probably thinking the exact same thing." He replied honestly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Much like your parents, you just need to have a little faith. That is how all that works, or so I am told." he chuckled a little.

"Can I ask one more question?" She whispered.

"Ask away." He replied.

"Do I have siblings?" She asked. She wasn't sure what would be better or worse.

He chuckled a little harder at the question. "Yes, you have a younger brother."

She nodded, quietly processing for several minutes. "I want to know more, but I don't know how much more I can take."

"Then don't ask anymore questions. Just know that in a few days you will get to meet them." he said rubbing her shoulder.

"Thank you." She said before yawning hugely. "I'm going to go pass out, now."

"Sleep well Mag." Wake said softly, waving her off as she left.

She suddenly reeled around to look at him. "Shit. Is that my real name? Did they name me Magdiana?"

"Yes they did." He smiled at her. "They weren't that smart when they took you."

Every muscle in her body relaxed. "Oh, thank fuck."

"Go get some rest." He said nudging her in the direction of the bunks.

Magdiana trudged downstairs and saw Astero getting ready for bed. She still clearly looked like she'd been crying, and, though, she tried to be strong something about today had just made it harder. She looked at him, feeling like she should say something. Finally, she spoke. "Sorry. I've kinda been stuck in my head."

Astero looked up at her as he laid in his bunk. He waved her off. "Your fine. We have been dealing with a lot in the last few days."

"I think… I think that I'll be better after I know how this will end up. Right now, it's like… just a big ball of anxiety." She put her face in her hands.

"Hey." he said nudging her a bit. "We will be in asesh soon. Beaches and sunlight galore. Relax. We are almost there." He half smiled at her. He had overheard some of her conversation with the captain, and was a bit shocked by what he heard. "Just a little longer."

She nodded, climbing into the bunk. She started to get comfortable before she whispered, "You still awake, As?"

"Yeah." He replied.

"I know what I would've been doing if it were you having the breakdown, and… you're still kinda like my brother… Even if you are an eavesdropping asshole." She mumbled, closing her eyes.

He sighed a bit, and covered his face. "Yeah." He said simply and slowly. He waited several minutes, and once he was sure that she was asleep, he walked up to the top of the deck.

"It's impolite to eavesdrop you know." Wake said from behind the helm.

Astero sighed again. "Am i really that bad at it?" he asked like it was the worst thing ever.

"Dude. I saw you stand up when i stood up. It was bad." he replied simply, shaking his head a bit in dismay.

"Whatever. It won't matter much when we get to Asesh anyways." Astero replied, leaning on the railing of the ship.

Wake raised an eyebrow now. "And why is that?" He asked curiously.

"When we get to asesh, we will be splitting up." he said simply.

Wake shook his head at his words. "Wait what?" He said doing a double take.

"Yeah. She has a family she will want to spend time with, and I will go and train somewhere." He said in a calm tone.

"Why?" He asked leaving the helm, and taking several steps closer to him.

"It's simple. She will be training in her own way, her parents are the perfect ones to teach her after all." He shrugged.

"And what about you?" the tiefling asked.

"Like I said training. And I really don't want to see her around her family. It will just make me mad is all." Astero said looking at the captain.

"Are you sure?" Wake asked, making sure the boy had his wits about him.

"Yeah. don't see why not." Astero said walking down the stairs to go back to his bunk. "Night captain." He said waving the man off.

"Night." Wake quietly replied, unsure of this.

The next few days were a blur of emotion and activity. The pair learned only small tidbits about what was going on with the elders, but nothing that would help them truly understand the magnitude of the situation. All too soon, they were making port outside of a city called Bellmare. It was the type of place that was both quiet and busy. The presence of military in the place was obvious, and few people chose to step on the wrong side of the law. It was the exact type of place Magdiana feared as a small time rogue. The half-elf watched from the deck as the ship moored itself all on its own. It really was a phenomenal feat of magic to be able to do that.

By the time they had weighed anchor, Magdiana was tapping her toes and wringing her hands nervously. She didn't know what to expect. Would they be here? Would she have to walk to get to their home? Would her brother be with them? She realized that she had no idea what age said younger brother was. This was getting worse by the minute.

Astero looked to Magdiana, and saw her nerves getting the better of her. He sighed, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know you are only making yourself more nervous by thinking about it. Right?" He said rhetorically.

"I'm not sure that I can help it right now, but I'll try." She closed her eyes, breathing a couple of times before opening them. "Better?"

"Do you feel better?" He asked her, looking over her shoulder to see Captain Wake.

"I don't know." She responded dumbly, turning to see the captain now as well.

"Well. here we are. Welcome to Asesh!" He said with a flourish of his hands. He looked to Astero, and handed him a small pouch of coin. "Here you go. Go down the street there and get yourself a room in a place called 'The Rook'. You will be safe there for the time being." He smiled at Astero.

"Thanks." He nodded, and began to walk down the street.

"As for you miss." He said turning to Magdiana. "I need to introduce you to some people." He said with a smile. "So you will be coming with me." He said beginning to lead here in the opposite direction that Astero was heading. After a little while of walking, they were nearing the outskirts of Belmare, and in the distance there was a small house. Outside there was a young boy playing in the yard.

Magdiana took in everything. She saw all the color and vibrance around then, looking at the different flowers, and smelling the fragrance. The image of a child playing in the yard made her smile. She only wished that she could do that when she was younger. Yutan was just too frigid to do such things.

As the two of them got closer the boy looked at the two of them, then immediately ran inside the house. Within a minute a half-elven couple came near running out the door. They stopped for a moment, looking at Magdiana, before they began to run again towards their long lost daughter. The two running and embracing her tightly, as tears ran from their eyes.

Magdiana felt tears in her eyes as she was hugged by the rest of half-elf's. She hugged each of them back, but she couldn't formulate any words. It was just too unreal. She had felt at home in Yutan. She had loving parents, but the sudden feeling of wholeness hadn't been something she was expecting. "Uh, hi." She finally mumbled anticlimactically.

The female, chuckled and pulled away, wiping away a few tears from her eyes. "Hello, it has been a very long time since we last saw you." She smiled, looking over magdiana with an appraising eye. "The last time we saw you, you were only just a baby." she sniffled. "I thought we had lost you forever." She said hugging her tightly again.

The man rubbed the womans back and looked to Magdiana. "I know you probably don't remember us. You were barely a year old when they took you, but we are your parents Magdiana. Your real parents." He smiled, tears filling his eyes, before he turned and waved over the young boy. "And this is your younger brother."

"Uh, hi." The young boy said nervously.

Magdiana laughed, pulling him in for a hug. "Yeah, we're related."

"You probably have a lot of questions." the woman said standing up and looking to Magdiana. "Let's go inside and talk." She smiled.

Magdiana let go of the boy and straightened up. She turned around to look at the captain. "Thank you, Wake." She murmured. "I suppose I'll see you again one day."

Wake gave her a small salute, and turned to walk away. "Let's hope not too soon." He chuckled.

"No, I've had quite enough excitement for awhile." She smiled, turning back to the other half-elf's. She took a tentative step forward before she looked between the adults. "I really hope you can help with this magicky woo woo stuff. I'm having the weirdest dreams."

The couple looked between the two of them, and then the female looked at her. "What were the dreams about?" She asked curiously, slowing down a bit to look at her.

"The first one had a group of elves at a masquerade, and they just keep getting weirder." Magdiana explained trying to remember them all.

She smiled at her now. "The gods do work in mysterious ways, but if you keep seeing a dream over and over again. It is often best to follow it, and see where it takes you." She calmly replied

"Yes, and if you wake up and are not in the place you feel asleep in. It might be the gods trying to tell or show you something." The man smiled, adding to the conversation.

Magdiana nodded once. "I'll keep it in mind, but I'm not sure if I understand it."

"To be honest, we don't fully understand it." The man said smiling at her and looking at the woman. "But that is how the gods work. One minute you will be walking down a street, and the next minute someone will fall on top of you and give you a concussion." He grinned.

The woman scoffed and hit his arm. "You will not let that go will you?" She shook her head and turned Magdiana. "That is how we met."

"I could tell." She giggled. "Sounds like I'm pretty lucky that you knocked him over."

"It was the greatest stumble of my life." She smiled and gave her a side hug. "Now let's get you some food. You must be starving."

Magdiana shrugged. "Honestly, tea sounds nice. There wasn't any on the ship, and I used up all of my rations of the stuff."

"Then tea you will have." She smiled. "What flavor?"

"There's got to be stuff here that we didn't have in Yutan." She smiled. "What's your favorite?"

"Well considering it is spring, it would say a nice lemon tea." She smiled at her.

Magdiana nodded. "Sounds lovely."

They walked into the house, and the man took magdianas things, setting them to the side for her. The woman went into the kitchen and began to make the tea. As Magdiana sat in the living room, the young boy sat next to her, looking at one of the daggers on her person. "Do you know how to use those?" He asked, both nervously, and curiously.

"Yes." Magdiana answered. "I'm very good with them."

"Thats awesome." He said with a smile.

"Maybe," She said a bit nervously, unsure of what her parents would think. "I'll get the chance to show you sometime."

His eyes went wide with awe. "Please? That would be so cool!" He said a bit quietly.

Magdiana eyed her father who was the closest adult and the parent that she thought was associated with The Mask. If she was going to get a go ahead, it would probably be from him. She hoped. Her eyes met his, and a mischievous smile pulled at his lips. She smiled back, suddenly realizing where she got some of her tendencies from.

Her father, gingerly flashed a dagger, and hid it a second later, as her mother came into the room with tea. He mouthed a few words to her. "We can play later." He grinned silently

Her mother placed the tea in front of her, and gave everyone a cup. Before they all sat down together in the living room. "So… where do you want to begin?" Her mother asked a little nervously.

Magdiana frowned for a minute before she finally settled on something. "I probably should've asked this sooner, but I don't actually know any of your names."

The woman sipped her tea, and chuckled. "Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't even think about that. I'm Eri." She gestured to the younger boy. "This is Jacob, and, finally, this is Marius." She moved her hand towards her father.

"I'm glad that I finally get to meet you all." Magdiana smiled. "I've been overthinking this in my head since… has it been a tenday?"

Eri placed a hand on her lap. "You get that from me I'm afraid." She said with a slight frown. "And at least a tenday by my best guess."

"I don't know where to start." Magdiana said honestly. "I feel like you know things already, and I don't want to… bore you or something. I'm just a rogue… cleric… thing? I dunno. And, I'm decent with herbs and stuff."

Marius leaned over and put his arm around her. "Don't worry. There is plenty of time to figure it all out. You don't need to rush into anything. You can take your time with this, gods only know you deserve it with everything you have been through." He said comfortingly.

Magdiana looked at him and then her mother. "I think it's kind of chosen me. I was able to heal people multiple times now, and I can cast a cantrip; but, I'm not sure which one it is."

Her mother smiled, and looked to her. "I will go over spells and cantrips with you. Including healing spells." she smiled.

"And I will show you a few offensive ones." Her dad added.

"I did something offensive on accident. It was bright white and glowing. Maybe it was a cantrip? I'm not really sure." She said honestly. "I kind of miss just being a rogue. It was much less confusing."

Her parents looked at each for a moment, and then her father replied back. "I think that was Scared Flame." He said with some confidence, but wasn't fully sure. "That is a pretty good cantrip to have." He smiled at her.

"Also, I have no idea what God this is." She wavered. "I'm not exactly… brand loyal, and, sometimes, I just listen to a feeling. There hasn't been any definitive moment."

"Well, the masked elfs sound like The Mask." Marius replied, with a small smile.

A small sigh escaped Eri's lips. "Just listen to that feeling, and you will find out in time." She said in a calm motherly tone. "Some clerics and paladins have gone their whole lives without knowing who their god was, but so long as you have faith in that feeling. They will be there for you." She smiled at Magdiana, rubbing her cheek a little bit.

Magdiana closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of love she was receiving. Her other 'parents', she thought, had loved her, but this was different. They barely knew her, and they were acting like so much more than she was used to. This was unconditional. She nodded, taking in everything she'd learned so far, and, finally settling on her next question. She asked it so quietly she wasn't sure if either of them had heard. "Why do I have a file of everything there is to know about me in my pack?"

Eri nodded and stood up. "Jacob, will you come with me to the store so we can make your sister some dinner?" She said enthusiastically.

Jacob smiled and stood up. "Yeah! Lets go get her something nice." He smiled at Magdiana, before his mother lead her to the door and the two left.

Marius waited a moment for the two to be gone, before he looked to his daughter. "As I am sure you already know. There is a group of people who help The King of the dead. Your mother and I are part of that group." He paused with a sigh, thinking about his words. "Just like there is a file on you there is one on Eri and myself. What's in your file, I am not entirely sure, each one is different. Also your file is, for all intents and purposes, null in void." He said placing an arm around her. "What happened in Yutan… was a disgrace, and it is never going to happen again."

"I…" She drew out the word. "I still don't understand why they had all of that. Things that nobody should know besides me, and why was it a disgrace? I mean, I guess that I get the whole taking me away part, but I keep asking questions. And the answers only leave me with more questions. They trained me to ask questions when I was becoming… this. And, they must've done it too well because I was able with Astero's help to find out about all of this. I am dying for a straight answer at this point. Even if the answer hurts, at least, I would finally know the truth about something. This tenday has been miserable, and I just…" She sniffed as her eyes started to tear.

He pulled his daughter in for a hug, simply holding her close for a moment. "Asking questions is a good thing." He sighed and withdrew from her, he held her hands and carefully thought about his next words. "The information was gathered to see if you would be eligible to help The King. Everyone who is part of this group, has the information gathered to make sure that they are genuine and down to earth people, to make sure that their actions and words coincide as it were." He explained to her slowly and calmly.

Magdiana slowly stood up, and opened her pack, grabbing the documents. She handed it to him, opening it to the offending pages. "Is that normal?"

A frown took Marius's face. "No. that information should always be kept private." His face was starting to turn red, but he slowly breathed in and out to attempt to calm himself.

She closed the file and took it back. "Sorry."

He shook his head at her. "No, you have no reason to be sorry. This isn't your fault in any way, your the victim here." He said looking her in the eyes. "I'm sorry that this happened to you, you didn't deserve any of this." He pulled her in for a tight hug, and she could hear his voice break. "None of us should have."

"Oh…" Magdiana mumbled into his shoulder. "I thought I'd embarrassed you. Those pages are too much information. That was anger, then?"

He nodded. "Yes. They should have never learned any of that about you. The most sensitive information they would ever learn is allergies and fears. None of… that." He said waving a hand at the file.

"You have my full permission to smite the hell out of whoever it was that got that information." She chuckled. "The gods only know what I'd do if I got my hands on them."

Marius chuckled at her words. "I would love to be able to do that, but I have a feeling The King will have already taken care of that himself, personally." He said seriously.

She shivered. "Yeah. Got to see his handiwork. Not anxious to see that again."

"What did you see exactly?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Humanoids? Or something else?"

"The humanoids, but I'm pretty sure that I can make some guesses about the other stuff he's got in his arsenal." She replied.

"It's best not to think about what he has. What you saw was a sliver of his power." He said quietly and seriously. "For now though, lets just relax. You have been on the seas for at least a tenday, I'm guessing you will want to freshen up before your mom and brother get back." He said with a smile, feeling the need to change the subject.

"A real shower would be appreciated." She responded.

"Alright then, follow me." He said standing up and leading her up a small flight of stairs, before leading her to a room and opening the door for her. Inside was all of her things, a bed and another door which she could see was a bathroom. The walls were a light shade of pink that could almost pass for whit in the right light. He turned to look at her. "Sorry if you don't like the color, this was going to be your room when you were younger, and we really never had the chance to know what colors you liked, so if you want a different colour just ask." He smiled at her.

She shrugged. "I don't mind it. My favorite is green, though."

Marius nodded, leaned in the doorway. "Figures, your mom's favorite color is green too. If you want me to repaint the room I can do that for you." He smiled at her. "Now go and relax for a bit. It will be at least an hour before the two of them get back. And if you are feeling up to it, we might get a chance to toss a few daggers, if you want to of course." He chuckled.

"Please. I've been cooped up on a ship for days." She responded before digging through her things for spare clothes. "I need a cold shower. It's way too warm here."

He chuckled at her as she said that. "It's spring. It's not that hot, wait till you get to summer. Then it becomes unbearable." He turned and let her take her shower, closing the door behind him as he left.

Magdiana quickly showered and got dressed, thinking about what the future would bring. She imagined possibly buying her very first dress, and was excited by the prospect. When she was decent, she returned to the living room and sat down next to her father who was reading a book. "So, is the rogue thing okay? Am I going to freak mom out if daggers start flying?"

"That's fine. The daggers won't freak her out per se, but she isn't a huge fan of them flying. Which is why I can show you where to practice." He smiled at her, "Are you ready to start throwing or do you need to get your daggers?"

She smiled. "I'm ready."

He stood up and began to walk to the back door of the house. "Come on, I'll show you my training area." He smiled, holding the door open for her. Once she was through he walked to the end of the back yard, which was covered in various types of flowers, he carefully moved in between two bushes, disappearing into the foliage.

"Does Mom know you train back here? Or is this a secret?" She asked as she padded through the grass. She found that her footfalls were louder here than they were in Yutan, and she decided that it would take practice to get used to being stealthy in the new environment.

"Yes, and no." He half chuckled. "She knows i try to keep training, but she doesn't know I do it so close to the house." he smiled, revealing a clearing just a few feet away. In it were several target dummies and actual targets that were hanging from different branches at different heights. Marius walked up to a nearby stump, and pulled an axe out before throwing it swiftly into one of the targets, hitting the bullseye. "Also I get firewood here." He laughed a bit.

Magdiana smiled, "Finally, someone who can probably beat me." She threw one of her daggers and knocked the axe out of the way. "There isn't much competition in Yutan."

Marius smiled at the hit. "Not bad at all!" he was surprised. "It isn't easy to make a shot like that, but you did have a lot of training." he frowned a bit before drawing another axe and hurling it at the target, and it exploding in a radiant light. He smiled as the splinters hit the ground, and he walked over and picked up both axes and her dagger. "But think I could teach you a few things too." He grinned, gently placing the dagger back in her hand.

"Oh." She muttered. "You think… you think I could actually do that?"

"Don't see why not. There are some clerics out there who can do the same thing. Maybe you are one of them." He smiled at her, before stepping to the side. "Now please. I want to see what that country has taught you, so I can fix a few things." He said leaning against a tree, and crossing his arms, intently watching her.

She smirked, eyeing the different targets around the clearing and taking aim. Seconds later, she let loose all fourteen of her daggers, four of them newly acquired from the ship. She hit every single target, seven in total twice each dead center. She smiled, pleased with herself until one dagger fell off the target. "Why is there always one?"

He gave a slow clap, thoroughly impressed by the display. "Wow!" He said looking at all the targets, and seeing even the hard to reach one's embedded with a dagger. A frown came over his face, and he covered it a few seconds later. A few sobs came out from behind his hands and he slid to the ground crying.

Magdiana ran over to her father. "Dad?" She asked, pulling him into a hug. "You okay?"

"I should have been the one to teach you that." He said holding her tightly. "Not them." He sniffled, looking her over as he spoke. "You're a grown woman now. We missed eighteen years of hugs, kisses, lullabies, crying, laughing… Just being together... I never even got to scold a boyfriend." He chuckled a bit, wiping away tears as he spoke. "You are terrifying, in the best way possible. But it just feels wrong." He sighed deeply still holding her close. "I just wanted to raise my baby girl." He half-smiled, half-frowned, as he brushed some hair to the side of her face, before hugging her again.

She was crying now, hugging him even tighter. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "We've got each other now, and you get to show me cool stuff like blowing shit up with that glowy energy. And, maybe, even how to get the last dagger to stick for once. As for the rest, trust me, there were no boyfriends to threaten. I mean… that my 'parents' knew of." She used air quotes as she said the word.

"I bet that if they gave you any shit you kicked their ass… didn't you?" He chuckled slightly.

"They didn't give me shit because I always have a knife on me." She told him.

"Smart girl." He smiled, pulling her in and giving her a kiss on the forehead. He sighed slightly and then let out a chuckle. "We missed so many of your birthdays."

She laughed. "Yeah, you owe me quite the backlog of gifts. I'll accept them as an appropriate wardrobe for the weather down here. I'm kind of dying right now."

"If you can hold out until tomorrow we will get you a whole new wardrobe. In the meantime, I think your mother will let you borrow some of her clothes." He said starting to stand up.

Magdiana took a minute to process his words. "Wait… I can borrow… we're actually the same size. Wow. This is stupid, but I've never been able to borrow clothing before."

He looked her over briefly. "Well I don't know if there exact same size, but they should be close."

"Better than bursting out of the other ones clothes. She looked down at her chest. "We couldn't share for some reason." She laughed. "I guess I'll thank Mom."

"Well you certainly didn't get it from me." He joked.

She looked into his eyes. "Eh, I got your facial features, so I guess that I should thank you too for the good looks."

He shook his head slightly. "No. You take more after your mother in good looks. And me in… weapons." He said looking around at the daggers. "I don't know how you are getting some of them down though."

She blushed. "I've got it." She grabbed the easy targets and holstered them where they belonged, even grabbing the last one that fell on the ground. Finally, there were two targets left. One was pretty far up a tree, and the other was just out of reach. For the one that was out of reach, she backed up a ways, running and doing a handspring to get where she needed to go. She grabbed the daggers on the first try and had them put away before she was on the ground. The other one was only slightly trickier. She climbed the tree for those, grabbing the daggers and throwing them down before flipping out of the tree and landing on her feet. As she put the last two away, she looked over at him. "What I lack in strength, I make up for in ability to use momentum to take down a target. I had to learn that because Astero is an asshole, and he always ended fights by pinning me to the floor."

Marius shook his head, and covered his face slightly. He looked up to her after a moment. "I don't know this Astero guy, but it sounds like fight a lot if he is pinning you to the floor." He said with a raised eyebrow. "I will say one thing though, he helped make you a formidable fighter. I bet he must be quite the fighter to have to want you to get so strong." He stood fully up, and put his arm around her. "I would like to meet him. But for now, let's get back inside. We don't want to let your mom know we were out here." He chuckled. "I have kept this place a secret for a while now, let's try and keep it that way, huh?" He said playfully nudging her.

"Yeah." She said before adding. "Wait. Does Jacob know? Because he really wanted me to show him what I can do."

He chuckled heartily. "Of course he wanted to see you do that." he sighed with a smile. "He knows about here. And when you show him, just make sure he is behind you." He smiled at his daughter.

"Well, duh." She laughed. "I don't want to hurt anybo- him."

He put an arm around her. "Don't worry, I'm sure you won't."

"Is it weird that I miss Astero?" She asked out of nowhere. "We were never super close except for competing over things, but we ran away from Evermore together. And, were in pretty close quarters for awhile. Now that he's gone, or away, or whatever, it feels… strange."

He paused as he walked, looking at her curiously. "Well it sounds like you two are friends. So it only makes sense."

"I guess. It's hard to call someone who you fight consistently a friend. He's left me with more than one very nasty bruise after a spar." She shrugged. "And, other than that and the whole weird file thing, and his parents being gone… I don't know all that much about him."

"Well have you asked him?" He asked her seriously. "Like, 'hey, what's your favorite color?' or "whats you're favorite food?'" He said simply. "It never hurts to ask."

She shook her head. "No. No." She rebuffed. "Ib don't want him to think that I'm into him. After all this time and the even weirder tent escapades, he'd totally think that I was asking because I'm interested. It's not like he's all that bad looking or anything, but that is not happening."

"Tent escapades?" He asked, not sure what she was talking about, but shook his head. "You know what. No it's fine. I don't want to know. Whatever-" He said before getting cut off.

"Woah, woah, there!" She interrupted. "It is not what you think it is. We got stuck in a blizzard, and I couldn't keep warm. So, we huddled for warmth in the tent."

He shook his head slightly. "Okay… well i'm glad your okay, and that he helped you stay warm." He sighed, leading the way back to the house.

"That was a heavy sigh." She commented. "I know that I lack a filter, or is it the thought of your daughter and a boy?"

"Okay, it's a bit of that, the last time I saw you you were still in diapers." he shrugged, a bit annoyed. "Also still adjusting here, so bear with me."

"Sorry." She looked at him a bit sadly. "There's not much we can do about it, so I'm just being myself."

"I am glad you are being yourself. It is making it easier." He smiled at her.

She laughed. "If you want, I can randomly start crying and screaming at all hours of the night… Really give you the full experience."

"Please no… Your brother, I love him to death, but he damn near ruptured my eardrums on several occasions." He chuckled. "I won't miss that part."

She sighed heavily now. "Full disclosure, apparently, there was a night on the ship that I was pretty vocally having a nightmare… not that I remember it, and, when I was woken up, I might have stabbed Wake."

"So… knock when we call you for breakfast. Got it." He smiled at her.

"I mean, we can always play knife roulette if that's your idea of fun." She chuckled.

Marius laughed hard as she said that. "I would. Your mother would be pissed if we did." he smiled, opening the door for her to enter the house.

"She doesn't have to know." Magdiana looked to him. "Hey, are the herbs and things around the house fair game? I need to restock my herbalism kit."

He thought for a moment. "Would be best to ask your mother, she planted them after all." He said honestly.

She tilted her head to the side. "She planted wolfsbane?"

He sighed. "She kinda buried herself into botany when you were taken… if nothing else, it kept her sane."

Magdiana nodded solemnly quickly moving on to her next inquiry. "And, I assume that I should keep the poisoners kit away from Jacob?"

"By an Intium mile." he deadpanned. "He can choose to do it in his own time, but only when he is older."

"You have a place to lock it up? Mine is just in my pack right now, and I don't think anybody around here requires midnight tears." She cringed as she admitted to one of the poisons in the kit in question.

Marius did a double take. "Why do you have Midnight tears? Are you trying to take down a war rhino?" He asked in an exasperated tone.

She made a helpless gesture. "For the same reason I have other poisons. Assassin's Blood. Malice… there might even be some carrion crawler mucus in there. I don't need them, but, damned it all, if I need it and don't have it."

He made a inchorhent amount of words, be slumping down on the couch. He held his face for a moment, talking behind his hands. "I'm shocked you haven't killed that boy yet." he said to himself quickly, before looking at her. "Yeah, give them to me after Jacob goes to bed, and I will put them away for you." He sighed, before chuckling. "You really are a terrifying woman." He smiled at her.

She sat down next to him, putting her head on his shoulder. "They made me terrifying." She muttered quietly, curling up on the couch next to him.

He rested his hand on her. "They did. But they also made one hell of a weapon." he chuckled softly.

"Right." She snorted, shaking her head a bit. "I'm all show, though. No follow through."

He looked down at her with a smile. "You said you can heal too right?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I've done it a couple times now, so I guess it stuck." She shifted a bit to get more comfortable.

"Then do you have any idea how terrifying it is to see an enemy go from the brink of death, then back to full health in an instant? It is not something to be taken lightly." He smiled down at her.

"I don't know what that's like. Astero was just a fighter. He did say that me getting spells changed everything, though." She closed her eyes. "All of these skills, and I've never really used them. Makes me feel kind of useless."

"He is right you know. Anyone can swing a sword, but magic changes everything." He said softly, letting her relax. "And you are not useless. You just haven't been taught how to you them all yet." He said gently brushing her hair. "You will soon enough." He smiled.

She sighed, thinking about all of the failed castings back in Yutan. "How does one even cleric? Accidently heal one day and then a couple other accidental castings, and that's just me now? This whole thing is strange. I thought you needed to pray and use a holy symbol or something."

"It varies, but your mom will be the best one to teach you." He replied to her, not really having a real answer. "For now, just relax. We can do all that stuff tomorrow. We need to have dinner first." He smiled seeing Eri and Jacob walking up to the door.

"I'm not sure that I know how to relax." Magdiana admitted. "I basically always used to work and train."

Marius opened his mouth to speak as the door opened, and Eri walked in with Jacob both holding bags from the market. "We're home." The woman called out, and Magdiana looked over to see what they'd gotten.

She was suddenly very sluggish, yawning loudly. "Sorry. Shouldn't be tired, but today's been a whirlwind."

Her mother looked over at her. "Don't worry about it." She smiled. "You lay down on the couch and I will get the dinner ready. I do hope you like roast chicken." She chuckled.

"I eat everything." She responded, curling up and winding up with her head on her father's lap. Her eyes closed, and her light snores filled the room for a moment.

Marius gently lifted her head, and moved a pillow to take his place. He rubbed her head a bit before moving to help Eri with the dinner.

Eri smiled as Marius approached. "So, how is she?" She smiled, looking back to see Magdiana quietly sleeping on the couch.

He chuckled a bit, looking back at Magdiana before looking to his wife. "Well, she definitely takes after the both of us. That's for sure." He smiled. "You for her looks and me for her tenacity."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "What did you two do, while we were away?" She asked, knowing that look of mischief on his face.

He sighed a bit, and turned to her. "I kinda brought her to the training area to see what she could do." he said moving a step away from her. "But you have got to see what she is capable of! She is incredible!" He said excited.

Eri eyed her husband seriously. "I haven't seen you this excited since before Jacob was born."

He smiled at her, with a small tear in his eye. "She is back Eri." He said simply. "And she is so much like us, in so many ways." He said turning to look at his sleeping daughter. "Her favorite color is green." He chuckled softly.

"Is it?" Eri smiled. "Now, you're going to tell me that her favorite meal is steak and eggs."

He laughed at that. "That I don't know. But yeah that is her favorite color. She so so when she was in her room." He smiled widely, before remembering something. "Also she will need to borrow some of your clothes. All of hers are made for winter."

"Oh, poor dear." Eri sighed. "She's never experienced the spring before." Her eyes were welling up with emotion.

"I know." He said pulling her close. "I broke down earlier when you and Jacob were gone. It was hard to hear some of her stories." He frowned, looking into his wife's eyes. "But she is strong, I will give her that."

"I'm afraid to ask." She told him as she placed the chicken in the pan.

"Not right now." He said quietly. "Maybe tomorrow you can ask her yourself. She says she needs help with the cleric stuff. That's your department." He said giving her a small nudge.

Eri sniffed. "My baby girl is a cleric."

"Yeah. She healed already, and dealt some damage, all on accident. She just needs help controlling it." He rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

She nodded. "I remember how shocking that can be. Along with everything else, it's like… puberty all over again." She laughed at her analogy.

Marius laughed at that. "Yeah that is accurate." he turned to see jacob walking up to Magdiana, and he quickly waved him over. "Jacob! Get over here!" He quietly yelled.

Jacob froze, and looked at his father like he had done something wrong. He frowned and walked over to his father saddened.

Marius leaned down and picked him up. "Look, you're not in trouble." He said calmingly. "Your sister just shouldn't be suddenly woken up." He said looking to Jacob, then Eri, and lastly Magdiana.

"But, why? You guys wake me up all the time." Jacob asked.

"Well… you know Captain Wake?" He smiled at him.

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. He didn't stay to play when he was here earlier, though."

"Don't worry buddy, you can play with him next time." he said ruffling his hair, before looking to his sleeping daughter. "Well, captain Wake, woke her up. And it scared her, so she accidently put a dagger in his arm." He said slowly so he could understand, and turning to Eri to emphasize the 'she is incredible' remark from earlier.

Jacob unconsciously rubbed his arm. "Okay. I get it."

Eri's eyebrows rose into her hairline. "Wake?" She confirmed. "I don't think I've ever seen someone catch him off guard."

"Yeah." He nodded for her. "I haven't asked him myself, but she didn't seem like she was lying." he said in pseudo disbelief, looking to Magdiana.

"I would've paid to have seen that." She commented as she removed chicken from the pan and started to work on finishing the sides. "I'll prepare sending tomorrow if you want confirmation."

"I believe her, if her dagger skills are anything to go by. But I would love to hear his side of things." He smiled, bringing Jacob over to the table and setting him down.

Jacob poked his father several times. "Can I watch Mag with the daggers?"

He looked to jacob, and then to Eri. "Just make sure your mother doesn't see." He whispered with a smile to his son.

Jacob gave a childish salute. "Yes, sir."

Marius smiled and patted him on the head, before looking to Eri. "almost done?" He asked her looking to Magdiana.

"Yes. I'm wrapping up." She smiled. "Bring your shield if your going to wake her."

He nodded, and walked into the other room, returning a moment later with a slightly worn shield. He sighed a bit and walked over to Magdiana, he extended a hand and gently nudged her awake. "Sweetie. Dinner is ready." He said in a soothing voice.

At the feeling of being touched, Magdiana was awake in an instant, and her dagger was out and at the throat of the one that disturbed her. When she processed who it was, she dropped it. "Shit. Sorry."

Marius dropped the shield, and held her for a moment. "Don't worry, it's fine. No one is hurt. Your fine." He said calmly.

She breathed in his scent and found it was calming. "It's not okay. It's not… normal."

He sighed, and rubbed her back as he held her. "You will be fine. We will make sure that you don't do that on instinct." He said looking to Eri and Jacob. "Everything will be fine."

"I don't want to hurt somebody." She whispered to him quietly, looking him dead in the eyes.

"You won't." He said looking back at her intently. "I promise." He said holding her cheeks.

She nodded, sitting up and picking up the dagger. When she stretched, she groaned. "Oh, I slept on one of the daggers. My back is killing me."

He helped her up, and laid his hands on her back letting some of his healing magic wash over her. "Feel better?" He smiled.

"That was unnecessary, but thank you. It is better." She smiled back. "I only remember being magically healed one time, and I was real little with a bad fever. They thought I was going to die."

"Well thankfully, you didn't." he said leading her to the table. "But for now, lets eat, shall we?" he smiled at Jacob and Eri.

"It smells phenomenal." She commented.

Eri smiled at the comment. "It tastes even better." She said serving everyone a plate.

Magdiana took her plate. "Thank you." She muttered, waiting to see what every one else was doing. Was this a pray before meals family? She wasn't sure. She could only guess.

Eri looked at her awkwardness, and laughed a little. "Please, help yourself." She smiled, as Jacob and Marius both began to dig in with haste.

Magdiana heaved a sigh, grabbing her utensils and practically inhaling her food only realizing after she'd finished how hungry she'd been. When she realized that the other three were still eating, she blushed. "Sorry. This week has been crazy. My schedule is all messed up. I didn't realize I hadn't eaten until just now."

Eri looked to Magdiana with a smile. "Do you want more? There is still plenty left." She said holding her hand out for the plate.

"No, thank you." Magdiana said too quickly.

"It is okay to have some more." Eri said, retreating her hand slightly, not wanting to push herself on her.

Magdiana eyed her mother and father. She didn't know what to say that wouldn't make them angry at the situation again. She pushed the plate towards her mother. "Okay, I'll have more… please."

Eri gave her a smile, and took the plate. Returning a moment later with another plate for her. Jacob eyeing the sight the whole time. "Don't be afraid to ask for more if need be Mag." Eri smiled at her.

"Sorry. I'm not used to that, is all." She responded simply without giving any more detail.

Marius and eri looked at one another, and nodded. "It's fine. It will just take some getting used to is all." Marius said reassuringly.

Magdiana ate her second helping much more slowly, and actually finished the plate. She looked between her parents. "Okay, now, I've eaten too much."

Marius chuckled. "Good. it is easier to relax on a full stomach." He smiled taking her empty plate from her, and walking to the kitchen.

Eri took Jacob's and followed Marius, leaving Jacob and Magdiana alone for a moment. Jacob looked over his older sister. "So, is it cold in Yutan?" He asked her curiously.

"Have you ever seen snow before?" She asked in return.

"Yeah!" He smiled back. "I made snow angels before!"

She nodded. "Remember how cold that was?"

He nodded. "Yeah." He said simply.

"It's that cold, and sometimes colder all the time in Yutan." She answered.

"Wow." He said in awe. "You are awesome."

She smiled. "I think you're awesome. I'm kind of jealous. You got to have Mom and Dad all to yourself."

"What? No! You're awesome! You traveled the seas, can throw daggers, hit Captain Wake! I have the coolest sister ever!" He said excited with himself.

She blushed. "I'm going to be the topic at school tomorrow. Aren't I?"

Jacob nodded excitedly. "Yeah!"

"Please don't bring the entire class with you when you come home. I can only take so much excitement in a tenday." She laughed.

Eri walked up behind jacob, and put a hand on his shoulder. "He will do no such thing." she smiled down at him. "Because it is his bedtime." she said leaning down and giving him a small kiss. "Now go wash up, and then come back and give your sister a hug before you go to bed." She told him.

Jacob sighed, and did as he was told. "Fine!" He got out of the chair and went to go clean up, before arriving back a few minutes later to give Magdiana a big hug. "Night sis. It was great to finally meet you." He smiled into the hug.

She hugged him back, slightly worried about the daggers on her person hurting him, but nothing happened. When he let go of the hug, she spontaneously kissed his forehead. "Night." She told him. "Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

He smiled, and gave a small yawn. "Will do." He then turned and disappeared to his room for the night. Leaving Magdiana alone with her parents.

Eri walked over and gave her a hug. "I have missed you." She smiled.

Magdiana hugged her back. "I love you." She muttered, following her gut and realizing she actually meant it.

Tears welled up in Eris eyes, and she hugged her tighter. "And, I love you. Always have. And not a day went bye, when we never stopped loving you either." She sobbed.

"Mom." She muttered, hugging the woman tight. "I didn't realize it then, but I missed this."

"And I missed this." Eri replied, simply holding onto her daughter. Savouring the feeling of being so close after so long apart.

After a minute, Magdiana pulled away. "Sorry. It's just too hot. That was nice, though." When she stepped back, she remembered something, made an 'oh' sound, and walked away. A minute later, she returned with a box in her hands. She handed it to her father. "Please lock this up. I don't want anybody to get hurt because the idiots in Yutan decided that I needed to be able to lace my daggers with things."

Marius smiled as he took the box. "I will make sure that this is kept safe." He chuckled, and walked to their bedroom to put the box safely away.

Eri looked on a little curiously, but looked to Magdiana. "You said you needed some clothes that are more suited for this weather? Right?" She smiled knowingly at her daughter. "Follow me. You can have some of mine." She said walking to their bedroom as well taking Magdiana with her. A few minutes later her mother gave her a whole assortment of things to wear, ranging from blouses to simple shirts. "There." She said confidently. "You should be set for a good while, before we go and buy you some clothes." She smiled at her.

Magdiana was floored. Her eyes were watering dangerously. "Thank you." She mumbled.

Eri sat next to her and gave her a hug. "Don't worry. It's fine. The gods only know we missed… all of your birthdays." She frowned, but gave a chuckle. Her eyes watering a bit, saddened by the thought.

"I know dear." Marius said sitting next to her. "I had the same realization too." He sniffled, before pulling magdiana in to have a group hug. "But, now we are all together. And what happened when you were younger, will never happen again." He said to the two of them, rubbing their shoulders.

"Can you tell me about yourselves?" She asked quietly. "Like, I know you're a cleric and a paladin. I know how you met, and that Mom and I have the same favorite color, but I don't know anything else. What do you do for work? Did you grow up here?"

"Yeah, we were both born here, granted we did grow up pretty far away from one another." Marius started. "I grew up in the northern part of Asesh near Pora." he smiled, before Eri continued.

"And I grew up in Ishashale, Near bretara." She smiled. "Opposite ends of the continent." she chuckled.

Magdiana blushed. "I don't remember my geography very well. Do you have a map?"

Eri blushed, and walked over to a small desk and pulled out a well worn map. "Here you go. I was born here, and your dad was born here." She said pointing to the northern and southern parts of the map. The finger where her dad came from was near the sea. Where as the area where her mother came from was mostly inland.

"Oh, wow." She muttered. "How did you end up here? Wait… where is here?" She started looking for the city name along the coast.

"Oh, we are right here." She said pointing to a peninsula about half way between the two area that lied on the western coast. "We each had our own 'faith missions' as it were. And wound up running into each other some 30 years ago." She smiled at her husband.

"We didn't know it at first when we met, but we avoided each other like the plague." he joked.

"We had worshiped different gods, so we thought it would end in disaster." she added looking at Magdiana.

Magdiana laughed. "Now, look at you. A couple of kids, beautiful house, and one of those kids is a cleric or… something. How old are you both?"

"I'm 54." Marius said with a smile.

"And I'm 57." her mother smiled back.

"Am I actually 23? And born in Eleint? Or was that all part of the weird kidnapping thing too?" She asked curiously.

They nodded simultaneously, before Eri answered. "Yeah that is right. You did just happened to surprise us when we first found out." She chuckled. "We weren't exactly planning on having a child, but we weren't not trying to have on either." She smiled at marius as she said that.

Magdiana blushed. "Isn't there a magicky way to stop that? I mean.. not that I'm complaining."

"There is… we kinda just forgot to use it." Marius blushed, causing Eri to smack him.

"Marius!" She exclaimed, looking beet red.

"There was a party, and although neither one of us were drunk. We just forgot." He said honestly.

Eri sighed, and looked to marius. "Yeah. it was a crazy night." She smiled, before looking to the still red Magdiana. "We don't regret it, we are glad it happened. A few months later… we got you." She smiled, pinching Magdiana's cheek slightly.

"Alright. The pinching is a bit much. I'm twenty three not three." Magdiana grumbled.

"Sorry, I just never really got the chance when you were little." She shrugged, looking her over appraisingly. "But, I won't do it... much." She grinned at her.

Magdiana made a face. "Sorry. It's an adjustment for all of us. Trust me. You don't want to annoy me. I was pretty infamous for pranking people around town."

"Well, I guess that makes two of us then." Eri grinned mischievously.

Marius saw the the look and took a step back. "Oh no." He sighed deeply. "Eri, if you do have a 'prank war'. Could you please keep it outside?" He asked, covering his face with a hand.

Eri looked to Marius and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we won't have a prank war. It wouldn't last very long anyway." She smiled.

"Oh, okay. I see where that comes from now. But, I thought Corellon was your god. Shouldn't he be the prankster?" Magdiana was confused.

Eri smiled at her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Corellon is the god of music magic art and crafts poetry, and also warfare. And the phrase 'all is fair in love and war' comes from him. He is also pretty chaotic." She chuckled.

"Are we sure that it's Mask for me?" Magdiana laughed, looking between them. "This just keeps getting more complicated."

"Yeah, we are sorry." Eri sighed.

Marius nodded in agreement. "It won't help that we have two very chaotic gods. So it could be one or the other, maybe even both. It will be hard to tell, and you will be the only one who will know in the end." He said gesturing to magdiana.

Magdiana made a helpless gesture. "I guess I'll just do what I've always done."

"You will be able to figure it all out. You are a trooper." Marius said to her. "You made it here in one peice, hells this will be a cakewalk for you." He smiled at her.

"It couldn't be any other god, could it? Like, something weird and Yutan related?" She asked.

"It is possible." eri replied. "But…" She trailed off.

Magdiana nodded. "Unlikely… I wonder why my magic took so long to kick in. When did you become a cleric and paladin?"

"Around your age." Marius said first.

"A little younger than you for me." Eri replied.

"Oh. So, it's not like a puberty thing?" She asked.

"No, but it can definitely feel like it." Eri chuckled, looking to marius. "We just had this conversation while you were asleep." She smiled.

Marius chuckled a little. "Yeah. it can be hard. But it definitely gets better." He smiled to Magdiana.

"I accidentally healed someone. I'm afraid I'm also going to accidentally hurt someone right now." She winced.

"Don't worry. I doubt that will happen. You will be fine, if you can heal, there will be no problems." Eri said calmingly.

"You won't hurt anyone." Marius added. "Not unless you want to actually hurt them. Then they will get hurt." He said from experience. "It's a combination of feelings and emotions really."

She nodded "Astero told me that it's different for him, which I don't really understand. I just kinda feel frustrated or sad, and bam. Magic."

"Who's Astero?" Eri asked curiously.

Marius chimed in. "The one who came here with her. There are friends."

"Oh. Well, it's nice that you have friends." She smiled, glad that she had someone to look after her. "Yes, casting is different for everyone. Some learn it differently than others."

"Speaking of him… I might drop by where he's staying tonight. I'm worried about him." She frowned. "He got really weird after he found out that I had two sets of parents and his were…" She got quiet.

The two parents gave a slight frown at that, but it was Marius who spoke up. "You will be back here tonight though? Right?" He asked her seriously.

"Of course. I was considering sneaking out like I always used to, but I figured that you're both too smart to fall for the pillows under the covers trick." She laughed.

Eri smiled at that. "That would have been an easy give away." She chuckled. "That is fine, we will stay up and wait for you to get back." She softly spoke.

Marius nodded at that. "Yeah, we don't mind staying up a bit later than normal for you." he smiled at her.

"Well, go to bed if it gets too late. I'm an adult. I've got this." She said, brandishing a dagger. "If anybody messes with me, they'll regret it."

Marius rubbed his neck and looked at the shield. "Yeah… whole lot of good that did me." he chuckled.

"I don't mind staying up." Eri replied. "What's a few more hours?" She smiled at magdiana.

Magdiana nodded. "Okay." She stood up. "I'll see you in a little bit."

The two of them gave her a quick hug. "See you in a few." Marius smiled at her.

"I'll be waiting for you." Eri smiled as well.

'I'll try not to keep you up too late." She promised we she left the house, swiftly following her footsteps from earlier in the day, and, then, the directions of Wake that he'd given to Astero before that. Darkness had fallen. This time of day was her time, and just like the night she passed silently almost unnoticed. Soon, she arrived at The Rook, and let herself in.


	4. Luft

The inside if the inn was rather unassuming. Simple wooden floors and tables, and the walls had a few pieces of art that had images of ravens and the sea. The only real thing of interest was a large rook piece that one would see in a game of chess. The piece itself stood around two feet tall, and was incredibly well detailed even though it was carved out of dark ebony wood. Astero looked at the odd carving and shrugged, before he walked up to the bar. A short moment later a red skinned tiefling woman walked up to him. "Hello young one. How can I help you?" she asked with a smile.

"Hello ma'am." He said simply. "I am here to purchase a room."

"A room? How long are you staying?" She asked, now more curiously.

"Not entirely sure." He sighed. "At least for the night, not entirely sure after that though. Maybe a tenday tops." He shrugged.

"So are you staying for a night or a tenday?" She asked annoyed. "Because you have to pay up front, and I don't give refunds if you leave early." he said placing her head in her hand. "So which will it be?" She asked him, this time wanting a serious answer.

Astero sighed and pulled out the coin pouch that Wake gave him. "How much will this get me?" He asked gently tossing the pouch on the counter.

The woman picked up the pouch and looked it over intently before a smile crept across her face. A moment later she was laughing. She wiped away a stray tear and emptied the pouch, pushing the coin back to him and pocketing the pouch itself. "For you it's on the house." She chuckled as she spoke.

"Uh… all because of a pouch?" he asked curiously, gently sliding the coins into his own pouch.

A small sigh escaped her lips. "No… not just because of a pouch. Because the guy who gave it to you is my husband." She smiled.

Astero shook his head. "Wait… hold up. Captain Wake is your husband?!" He said shocked.

"Uh, yeah. That's what I just said." she shrugged at him. "Been married for just over a decade now." She smiled.

He looked at the tiefling woman, and sighed a bit. "Okay. Sorry, it's been a long tenday, and I am still processing a lot."

"Don't mention it." She waved him off. "You just came from Yutan, I get it. It was cold there and your still getting used to the weather here." she chuckled.

"How did you know… right married, you would know that." He sighed, and began to realize just how warm he was starting to feel. "Fuck, yeah it is warm." He said shaking his collar to cool off.

"Ha. it's spring. This is nice." she laughed and handed him a key. "Wait until you get to summer. You will shit yourself from the heat." she sneered. "Now go up and take a cold shower. I will have some clothes delivered to you in a little bit." she gestured him away.

"Thanks." He nodded, grabbing the key to the rom and making his way there. When he entered the room he set his things down and quickly jumped into the shower. He spent several long minutes in there reveling in the cold water. When he left the shower, he found a set of clothes lying on his bed for him. He sighed, of course he didn't hear anyone enter the room. He looked over the clothes, and thought they were too thin to be normal clothes. Closer to sleepwear than anything else. He shrugged, and put on the clothes, he was never one to be picky. Once he was changed, he realised he was feeling hungry and walked back down to get some much needed food.

When he arrived back down he saw Captain Wake… getting pulled be the horn, and scolded. Astero fought the urge to laugh and lost, nearly falling down the last two steps of the stairs in the process. He quickly caught himself and chuckled. "Hey wake. Long time no see." He smiled at the man.

The female stopped dragging the Captain, and waved to Astero. Wake looked to astero and sighed heavily. "Just fucking perfect." He said standing upright.

"Oh what? Did you think I would be gone already?" Astero scoffed. "I can see now that you really do care." He sighed and walked over to a booth to be by himself.

Wake sighed and followed him sitting down across from the man. "No… I just wasn't expecting to you to see me in such a predicament with my wife." he said honestly, looking at her as he did so.

"Lover quarrel. I get it." He said waving him off. "I am not one to judge." He smiled.

Wake sighed again, and looked to Astero intently now. "Look. I just don't want my crew to see it alright?" he said honestly.

"Why? And again why should you be worried about me? I ain't staying here for that long." Astero said rather whimsically.

"Well, about that. I don't think you should go off on your own." The tiefling started, looking over the young man. "You two shouldn't split up." He said honestly. "This whole thing involves the both of you, and you two being separated doesn't sit well with me."

Astero raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?" He asked simply, shaking his head at the idea. "No. She will be fine on her own." He said looking over the menu briefly before settling on his food of choice. "Besides this just means the next time I see her, she will be stronger." He smiled.

The captain shook his head and smiled. "You two really are an odd bunch. You know that right?" He asked him seriously.

"What do you mean?" He asked curiously.

Wake sighed a bit. "Look. you say you are rivals, but you two were always watching each others backs on the ship. Even though you didn't have too." He said honestly, and simply for the man.

"Well… yeah. We each want the other to be stronger, so keep an eye out for one another." he said a bit slower.

"What I am trying to say is… your not rivals. Your friends." He said bluntly. "With a crazy story if ever I heard one."

Astero shook his head. "No. I barely know anything about her." He said defensively.

Wake scoffed. "What is her favorite food?" he asked with a smile.

"Steak and eggs, why?" He replied without a moment's thought.

"And when she fights, does she prefer her right or left hand for punching?" he asked resting his head in his hands.

"Right. But anyone could have told you that from seeing her fight." Astero replied like it was no big deal.

"True. But I never saw her fight." Wake said looking at him intently. "Not once, while you were on the ship." He added, as if to drive it home.

Astero thought for a moment before shaking his head. "You, are crazy." He said, waving for a waitress to get his order.

"Call me whatever you want. Crazy, asshole, devil touched. I have heard them all. But I am telling you the truth. You two are much stronger together than apart." he paused for a moment, as an idea hit him. "You two have fought each other countless times right?"

"Yeah. but I am not seeing what that has to do with anything." He asked, skeptical of what the tiefling was asking him.

Wake shook his head, and looked at Astero shocked. "You have fought each other… but have you ever fought together? Like fighting someone or something?" He asked leaning in.

Astero thought, and shook his head. "No. Most of the time we just argue about who is right, and then fight each other." he shrugged.

Wake sat back in the booth, flabbergasted. He watched as the waitress took his order and silently processed what he had just heard. When the waitress left, wake leaned back in. "okay, so who has won the most fights between the two of you?" He asked now trying to judge asteros prowess.

"I have." He said with a smile. "She is good with a dagger, but once you get in close, you can just pin her, and she is done for." He chuckled.

"Oh. My. Gods." He said with an open mouth. "She threw a dagger into my arm, and I didn't even see it coming. And you mean to tell me that you have not only have you beaten her, but you thought that 'demonstration' was 'good'?" Wake said a bit louder now.

"Yeah." Astero said simply. "That was nothing. She can throw like ten of them in a few seconds." he deadpanned.

"And what can you do?" The Captain said, leaning back in disbelief.

"Can either swing a blade really fast at you, or cast a few spells in rapid succession. Or both, if I am feeling up to it." he shrugged.

"You two of you are a force of nature, and you don't even realize it." He quietly said. He looked to Astero who was getting served his food. "Look. Just stay in town a few days, and play it by ear from there? Okay." He said coming up with a plan.

"Well. that depends on mag." He said taking a bite of his steak. "I really don't want to hear about her family… I… just don't want to deal with that." He sighed, taking another bite of his food.

Wake raised an eyebrow. Why would he not want to deal with that? He asked himself, he knew he was an orphan, but this seemed like a bit much. "I will talk with her, if I see her…" He trailed off standing up.

Astero nodded, and quickly began to eat his food, before he ordered some more.

Wake left him be, and watched him walk upstairs a little while later, he sat next to his wife and sighed. Just as she was about to speak, Magdiana walked into the bar. He waved her over curiously. "Hey! Over here!" He called to her.

"Wake!" Magdiana smiled. She eyed the other female tiefling and her ring. "And, the better half."

He smiled at her. "Yes. this is my wife, Raze." He said introducing her.

"Hello dear." She smiled.

"Nice to meet you." She said, reaching out to shake the woman's hand. "I would say that I've heard a lot about you, but that would be a lie. That one likes to know everything and say very little."

"Amen to that!" Raze smiled widely at that remark. Staring daggers at Wake as she did so.

Wake sighed, knowing he was about to get an earful very soon. "So… what are you doing here? I thought you would be back at your parents place sleeping soundly by now?" He asked her seriously, hoping all was well.

"I would be, but I was worried about that idiot that I brought with me." She winked.

He chuckled a bit. "Figures as much. He just finished eating his fill, and is upstairs." He said pointing upwards.

"Room 6." Raze added, still keeping her eyes fixed on Wake.

"Thanks." She nodded, and walked quietly up the steps. She easily found the room, and knocked on the door.

Astero perked up, he wasn't expecting anyone. He carefully opened the door, and was shocked to see Magdiana standing there. "Uh hey. What are you doing here?" He asked, looking around for anyone else.

"You had me worried. I wanted to make sure you were okay." She answered honestly.

"Uh yeah. I'm doing fine." he replied. "Nothing to worry about. I wasn't expecting to see you actually. I thought you would be off with you parents, having dinner and all that." He said, waving her off.

"Yeah, funny story. I thought it was great, but I kept bringing you up, and, earlier in the day, my dad was asking about what we were… Nevermind that, but he said that we're friends. And friends check in on friends." She said. "Also, you're not fine. You need to hit something. I can see it."

"Huh… Wake said something similar earlier…" he said quietly, before shaking his head, he heard the rest of her words, and agreed. "Yeah. hitting something sounds good." he chuckled.

She nodded. "Well, get your shit. We're going to spar."

He looked her over and shook his head. "I am ready… got some new lighter clothes, and i can summon my weapons. Remember?" he said shutting the door behind him as he walked out into the hallway. "Come on, now I am waiting on you." He smiled.

"Oh, it's one of those nights." She winced, glad she could heal." She came down the steps quickly. "Hey, Wake?" She called out.

He looked over to see the two of them coming down the stairs. "What are both of you leaving now?" he dejectedly sighed.

"Got a place where we can beat the snot out of each other?" She asked with a laugh.

He let out a sigh of relief, and pointed to a back door. "Yeah out there, plenty of room. Just don't hit the building." he pleaded, and followed them outside. Not wanting to miss this show.

"Deal." She said, marching out the door and removing one of her outer shirts. She still hadn't actually changed clothes yet. Seven of her fourteen daggers were now visible. "Ready?" She asked.

Astero walked out and summoned his dagger to him, stretching as he did so, he took a stance and waited. "Ready." He said, now focusing on her movements.

Magdiana flipped backward once and used the momentum to rush him, jumping just before she reached her target and using her full body weight and legs to try to take him down. In the process, one of her daggers gained purchase on him, and slashed his side… but only just. She was mid swing in her takedown when she realized that he'd countered, and she barely had time to react, protecting her head as she went down on the ground hard.

Astero quickly leaned back, and flipped up onto his legs. He took his dagger and threw it at her, getting her in the leg. He then ran up and began to pick her up, before bringing her right back down hard onto her side. He was about to go and grapple her but she saw it coming, kicking him in the face, before moving around him, and making some distance between them.

She smiled. Distance was her friend when it came to fighting Astero. She let loose not one not two, but three daggers. She had a flash of memory of how her father could add extra oomph to his, and she willed it so as she threw them to no effect. Not even a faint glow. Damn. All three of her weapons struck home, but only one embedded itself into his skin. The others were just flesh wounds.

He felt the daggers cut his skin, and sighed. They weren't bad on their own, but collectively they were starting to suck. He grunted and stood up, summoning his greatsword. He then dashed at her, quickly cover the distance, before he made four quick attacks in rapid succession. Magdiana was able to parry the first one, but the other three, cut into her flesh. He gave a small grin, and took a small step back, waiting for her next move.

She reacted to his movement back by thrusting a dagger into the leg that had just moved. She was trying not to heal herself for his sake, but damn that great sword hurt. She couldn't counter that with daggers. She wasn't strong enough. Desperately, she struck out at him with another three quick swipes before disengaging and backing away several feet.

He waved his hand, and was able to deflect two of three attacks with a spell. He could tell she was starting to play on the defensive, her movements were starting to become more desperate. He took a step back, and took a deep breath, and some of the pain went away. He looked up at her intently. "Come on. Where is all that healing?" He goaded her.

"Was trying to be fair, and not use it." She replied, panting heavily. She was sweating due to the weather.

He sighed, and stood up. Letting his guard down. "For the love of all that is holy. Don't hold back!" He yelled at her. "You think, someone is going to hold back for you out there?" He said pointing a hand out into the nothingness around them.

She wiped her brow. "No." She muttered, waving a hand and letting her wounds close. When she'd finished, she threw a dagger. This one hit but didn't stick. She rolled to the side, seeing him watch her movements and at least wanting to make things difficult for him. She still had ten daggers on her person to work with, but her mind found the locations of each of the ones she'd used already.

He let out a small sigh of relief as she healed herself, and cursed himself for leaving himself open like he did. The dagger didn't stick, but it still hurt. He ran up, and took a swing at her, but she dodged out of the way, his second swing was able to just get her leg from before, leaving a bit of crimson on his blade.

She felt the blood running down her leg, but ignored the pain, rushing him in the same manner she had before, except, this time, she lead by throwing a dagger, which was more a distraction than anything. She ran into Astero, and brought him down to the ground in a whirl of momentum that made his grip loosen on his sword. Once he toppled down, so did she. Without thinking, she grabbed a dagger and slammed it with all her might into his thigh. It took her several moments to process what she'd done. "Fuck." She muttered.

Astero let out a yell of pain, as the dagger went deep into his leg. He grabbed her, and threw her off of him. He grabbed the dagger, and quickly pulled it out of his leg, causing him to yell out again. He threw the dagger at her in a small rage, causing him to miss, but nail a bit of her clothes to the ground. He heaved for a moment and turned to walk inside, limping as he did so. He was with the sparing for the night. He looked at Wake, and scoffed. "Friends my ass." he said under his breath, but loud enough for the captain to hear.

Wake stood frozen from the intense battle he had just witnessed. He couldn't believe what he had just seen, they fought like pros, and he was glad he wasn't on their bad side. He shook his head to go and help Magdiana up off of the ground. "Are you okay?" He asked her, giving his hand out for her to grab.

Magdiana removed the dagger from her clothes and grabbed his hand. When she was on her feet, she waved a hand, and her bleeding stopped. "I'm fine." She answered, retrieving her weapons from the ground. She sighed. "When he wakes up, he won't be." She took out a small pouch of herbs. "This is oregano. You can either put it in a muddler and get it damp with a little water or chew it for a second. Then, put it right in the wound. It will help kill any germs and relieve pain. Tell him that I said sorry." She sighed as she started to walk away.

Wake helped her up, and looked at her curiously. "Me? You're kidding me right? You go do it." he said pushing the herbs back at her before she had the chance to go too far away. He then turned to look at her directly. "Do you two fight like this all the time? Or was this just a one off?" he asked her, the ferocity of the fight still fresh in his mind.

"Give or take a little blood. He was a bit more… mercurial than normal." She shrugged, opening the door and heading inside. "If you hear screaming, it's him… He's not happy with me. I accidentally broke the rules."

"What rules?" Wake asked her following her for a bit. "And why did you guys go so hard at one another? That was intense, and you say that is normal?" He sighed heavily, shaking his head as he did so. "You two, without a doubt, are the oddest couple I have ever met."

"That was a bigger wound than we normally allow." She answered. "And, why? I don't know. We're competitive I guess. And, we're not a couple. I will cut you if you say that again."

Wake chuckled at her words. "Figures you two wouldn't notice." he said walking over to a table and sitting down. "Go. heal him or whatever you plan on doing. Just don't ruin my wifes inn, or she will kill me." He sighed.

"Wouldn't notice what, Wake?" She huffed.

"The both of you say, you aren't friends. Yet you both know exactly when each other isn't feeling well, or even not in a great mood… that not rivalry." he shook his head. "No you two are more than that." He said simply.

"Look, if all of the adultier adults in my life say it, I'm going to stop arguing, but it's not me you have to convince." She responded. "Now, excuse me while I go get myself punched in the face for helping."

"Alright." Wake smiled ather waving her off. "It's up to you two to figure out what you are." he said quietly, taking a drink as he said so.

She half-glared at him. "It's not going to change much. We're not going to suddenly be all hugs and love or something like that."

"Like I said… that is up to you two to figure out." he said waving her off. "Go get punched in the face." he chuckled.

Magdiana climbed upstairs and didn't bother knocking this time. She used her tools to open the door. He wouldn't answer it for her anyway. She opened the door, and whispered. "Hey."

Astero glared at her, as he tied a bandage around his leg. "What are you doing here?"

"Fixing my fuck up." She told him walking forward, and waiting to feel his ire. "I didn't mean to do that, you know."

He winced when she grabbed his leg, and looked at her intently. "I know. But you still did it. And got me good at that." He grunted.

She concentrated for a second and watched the wound magically knit together. There was still some redness, so she started working with the herbs she had tried to hand Wake earlier. She placed it on the wound and started to wrap it. "As?"

"Yeah Mag?" He asked, looking up at her from his leg.

"What's your favorite color?" She asked.

He looked at her curiously. "It's orange... Why? What's with the weird question?" He asked her with a tilted head.

"The adultier adults in our life asked me, and I realized I didn't know." She responded simply, standing up and looking at him. "I don't like not knowing things."

"Why are they asking about crap like that? And if your geography is anything to go by, im worried." He sighed, standing up and testing his leg, and when he felt it was better he looked back at her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She responded. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What's that?" He asked, with a sigh.

She cringed. "Punch me in the face, please. I don't want Wake to be right."

"Right about what?" He asked taking a step forward.

"He just had that look of not believing me when I said that you would hit me for trying to help." She laughed. "And, sometimes, I think he needs to be wrong."

"You sure?" He asked, cracking his knuckles.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'll have one of the parental…"

Before she could finish her sentence, he punched her in the face. "There you go." He said nonchalantly, and moving to go get some water.

"Son of a bitch!" She shouted before whining. "Yeah, I deserved that." Her hand tenderly pressed against her eye. "Alright. Goodnight. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I will try, but I am not making any promises." He said simply.

She left the room, and walked downstairs, waving to Wake and his wife. "Night." She called out.

Wake looked at his wife, and she looked back at him. "Well, they really are the odd couple aren't they?" She said to wake.

Wake looked back at here. "Yeah." He sighed.

Magdiana made it back to the house without incident, and let herself in. She saw that both of her parents were quietly curled up on the couch, reading. "Hey." She said, cringing when they saw her face.

"Oh my gods! What happened?" Eri exclaimed as she saw her face, and got up and ran over to her.

"It looks worse than it feels, I'm sure." She mumbled. "We had a spar. I stabbed him. He punched me, and I've used up all my juice for the day."

Eri held her close for a moment before casting a spell on her, and healing her instantly. "Feel better?" She asked.

Magdiana blinked a few times, pressing the once tender area. "Yeah, it actually does. Thanks."

"Don't worry about it." She smiled at her, before she looked to marius. "What type of friends do that to one another?" She asked him, not used to seeing something like that.

"I have no idea." he sighed, looking at Magdiana. "If it ever gets too bad, I can always…" he trailed off, making a few jabbing motions.

"Dude, that was an average first day for us." She laughed. "Don't even worry about it. At least, I have healing this time."

"So do I." Marius replied.

"And me." Eri added. "I may not know this guy, but I am not afraid to put the fear of god into him." She said honestly.

Magdiana waved her hands. "No, no. Please don't worry about it. We just had a spar... Wake watched it and everything! It's what we do. You can watch sometime."

"Okay…" She sighed, putting her hands into the air. "Just know I can do the same thing your father does, just with a bit more 'oomph'."she smiled at her.

Magdiana laughed, remembering the target exploding from earlier. "Any more oomph and there will be nothing left of the poor guy. Now, I'm going to head to bed. That took a lot out of me."

Marius looked at Magdiana and smile. "Good night. Sleep well." he said turning to Eri. "that would be interesting. Going to see them fight." he chuckled.

"Night mag." she smiled at her, pulling her in for a hug, before letting her go. "Sleep well." she smiled, before turning back to Marius. "If we go, I am going to give him an earful." She deadpanned.

Magdiana's door shut, and Marius grabbed his wife's waist. "I'm sure you will, dear. Now, let's get to bed. We've had an exciting day."

She leaned her head on his shoulder, and sighed contently. "A long, eventful and happy day. Our baby girl is back." She smiled up at him.

He leaned down, and gave her a gentle kiss. "Yeah, she is." He leaned his head on her and yawned. "Ok, come on Eri. let's get to sleep."

Eri nodded and yawned. "Yeah, let's." she stood up and gently lead him to the bed room. The two falling asleep quickly.

Astero was lying quietly in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He wasn't tired, even though he was physically exhausted. He tossed and turned, not really able to get to sleep. After a while he sat up, and walked over to the nearby window, opening it up to get some air. He looked down at his leg, and it felt much better. He smiled at that, she was a damn good healer, even without the magic she had. He looked up at the stars, they were the same here as is Yutan. He thought about what wake said earlier in the day about him and Mag. The two of them had known each other for well over a decade, and even though he knew her for a long time, he didn't know that much about here. He knew her habits and some of the things about her, but she was an enigma to him otherwise. Astero sighed, Wake was right. Maybe he should try and get to know her better. Or at the very least fight her less. He winced, thinking that if they kept going at it like they had, they might just end up killing one another. He felt a yawn take him, and he laid down, sleeping finally taking him.

Magdiana awoke in the morning with the dawn. She dressed in her mother's clothes, and quietly padded out of her bedroom. She did a few stretches and went about her usual routine, winding up outside of the house in the front yard for a light workout. One or two hours later, her mother popped her head out of the front door. "Magdiana! Breakfast is on the table." She called out, closing the door to get back to the table.

Magdiana walked back inside, enjoying the feeling of the somewhat cooler house. She sat down and grabbed her utensils, "Thank you." She muttered before digging in. When she'd finished, she looked around the table, eyes finally landing on Jacob. "Ready to go to school?" She asked him with a small smile. "Since you're going to talk about me all day, I might as well drop you off and pick you up."

Her younger brother was still waking up, but when he heard her words he smiled at her. "That would be awesome." He half-mumbled, half-smiled, happy that is sister would be spending some time with him.

Marius smiled at his two children. "Then if you are going with us, I might as well show you where I work when we drop the little trouble maker off." He chuckled, pointing a piece of toast at Jacob, before taking a bite.

Magdiana smiled. "Yeah. Can do. Let me go get changed, though. I'm still not used to this heat."

"Don't worry, you will." Eri chuckled. "Just takes some getting used to is all."

"I will be shocked the day that happens." She grumbled. "I feel like I'm dying of heat stroke."

Marius chuckled this time. "Have you ever actually experienced heat stroke in Yutan? Because you will know it when you feel it."

"Hypothermia." She shrugged. "And, you know that when you feel it too."

"Yes you do." marius replied, and looked to jacob who was almost asleep in his eggs. "Come on buddy, school awaits." He chuckled, standing up and moving to get the young child finally ready for school.

"Okay." he mumbled, and blindly followed his father's directions. Quickly getting ready.

Magdiana got changed and emerged from her room around the same time that Jacob did. She smirked as she looked at him. "Hey, bud, your shirt is backwards."

Jacob looked up at Magdiana and then to his shirt. He sighed lightly, and pulled his arms into his shirt, and spun it around. "Better?" He asked with a smile.

"Yeah." She giggled. "Is this an every morning thing? Because I have some stuff that could wake you up."

Marius chuckled at her words. "Yeah, this is pretty common. He gets that from his mother." he chuckled at his wife who was resting her head in her hands. "He will grow out of it. But for now we need to be on our way." he smiled leading Jacob to the door. "Love you dear!" He called back to Eri.

"Bye mom!" Jacob called out.

"Be safe." Eri called out, yawning loudly.

"Always." he smiled back and placed an arm around his daughter. "Come on, let's show you the town a little."

Magdiana smiled. "Yeah. I've basically only seen the same parts of it over and over. So, basically, the docks."

"Well you will be glad to know that there is much more than just the docks." He smiled. They walked down the same road magdina had taken to get there, but they didn't follow it all the way back to the docks. They turned just after halfway there, and passed a few houses. Coming into few was a decent size school, with children of various ages running around. Jacob bolted off a moment later, coming back in a few short seconds, dragging a friend with him to show off his beast of a sister. Before he could properly show her off, the bell rang, and Jacob sighed deeply before running off to get to class. The two waved him off, and began to walk to Marius's place of work.

Along the way marius gave Magdiana the grand tour. Pointing out the large park to her, as well as the city hall building. They passed several stores ranging from pastries, to exotic textiles, to odd trinkets, and a large magical district. 'The perks of sea trade' Marius explained. A few minutes later they were close to the inn Astero was staying at, it was right down the street. Marius lead her to a trading company and entered the building, being greeted by all of the people inside. He greeted them back happily, and turned to Magdiana. "Welcome to Caladrius Company. Where we will get your goods to your destination, no matter how far or how difficult to get." He smiled at Magdiana, and lead her near the back of the building before sitting down at a rather big desk that was currently very full with paperwork. "So what do you think?" He asked her, beginning to quickly sorting through the paperwork, and putting it into smaller more manageable piles.

"So, does Wake work for this operation?" She asked.

"Yes, he is one of the top merchants. Hasn't missed a shipment in the 30 years he has worked here." He smiled at her, looking back and forth between her and the papers.

"I only met him a tenday ago, but that really does sound like him." She smiled. "Should I get outta here? I don't want to distract you from your job… wait… shit. You don't own this place, do you? That is a lot of paperwork."

He shook his head. "No. This place has been around longer than my grandparents." He chuckled. "If you want to go, I won't stop you. This will take me awhile to get through, so I don't expect you to hang around for the entire day." He smiled at her. "This is just me checking for anything fucky."

She laughed. "No, I don't think I will stick around. That's not exactly my idea of fun, but I do have a couple questions now that I'm thinking of it."

"Shoot." He asked her, listening intently to her but still checking the paperwork.

"Uh… what's our surname?" She asked with a lot of trouble. She was starting to blush.

Marius looked up at her with an odd look, and then realized that she hadn't been tol yet. "Oh sorry! I can't believe that we completely skipped that." he chuckled. "Our surname is Rothenel." He smiled at her.

She covered her face with her hands. "Dude. You guys stuck me with a seven fucking syllable name." She whined. "You know how long it took me to spell my first name as a kid?" A bitter chuckle escaped her lips.

Marius gave a slight chuckle. "It was your grandmother's name, Eri's mom to be exact." He said a little quietly.

"Huh." She hummed. "Good to know… My other question is… my paperwork on you and Mom says that you worked for the military. Why aren't you doing that anymore?"

"Well… we had a daughter. We kinda wanted to be around for her." He joked. "And this is much safer."

"Oh… oh, yeah… that makes sense." She mumbled, realizing how much she'd changed for them without knowing it. "Anyway, I, uh, will see you later."

"See you later." he smiled, giving her a hug before she left. "Try to stay out of trouble." he joked.

She nodded. "I will. I kinda need to figure out what to do with myself, though. I'm not used to not having a routine. Not that my routine was all that special."

"Well… your friend is in town right?" He sighed. "Could always go and hang with him. Just… the violence to a minimum. Please?" he asked her seriously.

"I make no promises. Fighting is what we do with each other." She deadpanned.

"Then just try to heal yourself before you get home. I don't want your mother to have a heart attack… or kill your friend." He grimaced.

She nodded. "Yeah… but, in his defense, I did deserve the punch. And, Wake was proven wrong, so I call it a win."

Marius sighed, and waved her off. "Go on then. I can't really stop you anyhow."

"Alright. Later." She waved, heading out of the building and towards The Rook. She shuffled in waving to Wake's wife and glancing around until she found Astero eating breakfast at one of the bar tables. She sat down in front of him. "You gave my mother a conniption last night."

Astero jumped a bit as she suddenly appeared in front of him. He quickly calmed himself, and sighed when he heard her words. "Why is that?" He asked taking a bite out of his eggs.

"Eh, the shiner I asked for." She whispered. "Couldn't exactly tell her that it was to prove a point."

He shrugged. "Sorry, I guess." Not exactly sure what to say.

"It's fine." She responded. "I admit… I feel kind of useless at the moment. I have nothing to do around here."

Astero finished his meal and set the empty plate to the side. He nodded in agreement. "Yeah you're telling me. Already did my morning workout, and now I am just bored off of my ass."

"I would offer to spar, but I don't think that's the best idea at the moment. We might actually kill each other." She sighed. "Maybe, I should just go find a job."

"Yeah, don't really want to risk getting any unwanted attention." He agreed. "If you want to get a job, go for it. You certainly have a skill set to get one." He chuckled, trying to think of what he would do if he were to find a job.

She frowned. "I don't think I like this… I mean… I like that I've found my family, but I just feel…" She paused for awhile, trying to find the right word. "Aimless."

"Like you are in an ocean, and you have no clue which way to go." He said quietly.

She nodded, staring at his eggs, but not actually seeing them. "Yeah."

The two sat in silence for several minutes, before Astero spoke. "Hey Mag, what's your favorite animal?" He asked her, suddenly remembering his thoughts from last night.

"The arctic fox." She responded, not missing a beat. She looked at him funny for a minute before finally saying. "Are we really going to do this? What's changed?"

"Last night got me thinking, and I realized that we know like fuck all about the other. And we have known each other for like what? A decade?" He asked making sure he had his facts straight.

"Dude… We're twenty three… We've been fighting each other since we were five or six. That's nearly two decades." She responded.

He shook his head in disbelief for a moment, before looking at her. "Okay… and in the two decades we have known each other. I ask you this. What do I like to do as a hobby?" He asked her.

"Beating the shit outta me is all I can think of." She answered. "I'm sorry… we've known each other forever, but… we know nothing about the other. I think… I think... that, in another life, we could've been real friends. Outside of Evermore."

He nodded at her. "Yeah, probably." He sighed. "But then again, I doubt it." He replied back.

"Alright." She said resolutely. "We're doing this. Finish your breakfast. We're going out."

He drank the rest of his orange juice, and looked at her. "I've been done. Finished it soon after you got here." he chuckled.

She stood up and started walking to the door. "Whatever." She grinned. "How do you feel about a game? To get to know your oldest frienemy?"

Astero followed her out of the inn, and onto the street. "I'm game." He laughed. "So what do you have in mind?" He asked curiously.

"Basically truth or dare." She answered. "Except with us, so… more extreme."

"Uh… okay. Just nothing too crazy." He added. "Don't want to get arrested."

"Nothing that will get us arrested." She laughed. "But, there's still plenty to do. Who gets to start?"

"By all means. You go first." He said, gesturing to her.

She nodded. "Alright. Least favorite household chore?"

"Laundry." He replied back near instantly. "That is one of the reasons I learned Prestidigitation."

She laughed. "That's so lazy of you. I didn't expect it."

"Oh yeah. Much prefer to do dishes." He laughed back. "What about you? What is your least favorite chore?"

"Ironically, dishes." She answered easily.

"Huh. I expected it to be cooking or something like that." He nodded at her. "Okay then. What is your least favorite food?" He asked with a chuckle. "Pretty sure I actually do know your favorite food."

"Anything spicy." She answered. This made her think. She knew his favorite food, but she didn't know the same. "What's your least favorite food?"

"Peanuts." He deadpanned. "I am actually allergic to them. One of the many reasons I would sit away from you at lunch." He said honestly, blushing slightly.

She glanced at him. "Shit. You could've told me."

"Eh. I just stay away from them, so I'm just used to it. Besides we never hung out enough for it to come up." He said honestly.

"Dude. I could've accidentally killed you." She whispered seriously.

"Only if you fed me like a pound of them." He whispered back. "One peanut won't kill me, nor will a sandwich. It will just suck to breath for a while." He said calmly. "Relax, you are fine."

She nodded. "Alright, but do you have any other allergies I should know about?"

He shook his head. "No, just peanuts. I can have other nuts. It's only peanuts." He explained to her.

"I'm allergic to lavender. Makes me sneeze and itch. Found that out the hard way in the shop." She commented.

"That blows, I actually like the smell of lavender. That must suck." he replied feeling sympathy for her.

She smiled a bit bitterly. "The avoiding of it is the worst part since it's a plant. I have herbs to deal with the reaction if I have one."

"Lucky. I don't have that luxury." He sighed. "I just have to deal with it if it happens."

"I could get the herbs for you." She answered quickly. "They're not hard to find."

"Actually. That would be nice." He smiled at her. "I do actually like the taste of peanuts." he chuckled.

She winced. "Please don't purposely start inducing allergic reactions."

"What? No… i'm not that stupid." he replied. "Maybe once though. Just to actually have a Pb&j sandwich for once." He mused.

"Can you wait until I learn a restoration spell first? I would rather have a surefire fix if you're going to do that." She smiled.

"Sure." he nodded back. "If I can wait this long, I don't mind waiting a bit longer." He smiled back at her.

Magdiana lead him towards her parent's house, not really knowing where to go but remembering the secluded area behind it. "I think you're up for questions."

Astero thought for a moment, trying to think of questions that he didn't know, but not make them too personal. "How many languages do you speak?" He asked her. "Other than elvish of course." He chuckled. "I speak three."

"Four. Technically." She answered. "Common, elvish, draconic, and thieves cant."

Common, Elvish and Infernal." He replied. "Leaned elvish to make sure you weren't making fun of me." he smiled at her. He looked around, and saw they were outside of town. "Where are we going?" He asked her.

"My parents live outside of town. There's a secluded area behind it where we can safely let loose and do stupid things." She explained.

He sighed a bit at her words. "Fine. I just don't want to talk to your parents. Nothing against them or anything, I bet they are nice, I just don't do well with parents." He said quietly, almost mumbling.

"I know." She muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He replied back trying to liven the mood a bit. "I'm pretty sure it's your turn to ask a question." He smiled at her.

"When you were little, what did you want to do with your life?" She asked, starting to get more personal.

"I wanted to train animals. Birds mostly." He said actually looking at some birds. "Very free animals." He smiled to himself.

She nodded solemnly. "I know exactly what you mean. I'm certain I wouldn't be the way I am if I hadn't been steered in the right direction."

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Right direction? I hate to say it this way, but I don't know if you had much of a choice. Hells… neither of us did." He sighed.

"Exactly. I might be a cleric… an actual cleric and not a shitty one. Or, literally anything else." She sighed. "Who knows… You know what? It doesn't matter. It's already done."

"Yeah." He nodded. "We at least got out of there while we are still young. We can still steer things in the right direction for us."

"If neither of us had been chosen for this fucked up shit, we might actually have grown up friends. It sounds like our parents knew each other pretty well." She thought aloud.

"That would have been nice. To actually have a real friend." He smiled, before a frown took him. "Unlike all those jackasses growing up."

She nodded, finally admitting. "I don't have any real friends. Besides, well, I guess you… according to Wake and my parents."

Astero paused for a moment, looking her over curiously. "I thought you had a ton of friends. Who were those girls I would see you hang around with during lunch then?" He asked back.

"You could call them friends, I guess, but I didn't have anything to do with them after we got out of school. They were more a means to an end." She responded. "Something to get me through the day, really."

"Huh. I guess we have more in common than I thought." He replied, moving again. "Did the same thing, but I am pretty sure that they only sat with me to pick up chicks." He added, before turning to her. "And thanks Mag. You kept me going when it got dark. Thanks." He smiled.

She frowned. "I have to admit… our spars got really intense after… that. I think that's where things really became what they are. Huh?"

"Yeah… it did." He frowned. "Sorry you had to deal with that. I really am." He said seriously.

They finally made it into the clearing with the targets. "It's okay, As. I'm pretty sure that I'd be dead if our fights hadn't made me stronger."

He shrugged a bit. "You would have been fine. I can't tell you how many of those fights I won by acting like I was still able to keep going. You would kick the shit out of me." He told her honestly.

"Huh." She answered. "I guess I never realized."

"Don't get me wrong, I never once held back. But you should have won far more of those spars than you did. That was one of the reasons for the weapons going too deep. It gave me a chance." He said looking directly at her.

"I had to learn how to do takedowns because of you." She laughed. "So, thanks."

"Oh gods no, I immediately regretted that! I had to basically workout like a lunatic, to keep up with… all of that." He said laughing, gesturing to all of her.

She giggled. "And, you don't think that I didn't eat dirt hundreds of times learning how to hook your neck with my legs and throw you with my entire body weight?"

He sat down on a nearby log and chuckled. "I was there. And you got it down. That was the weirdest sensation the first time you got that to work. Standing, then suddenly on the ground." He said gesturing the moves.

"It was ridiculously satisfying to finally pin you after being pinned at many times before that." She smirked. "I think you get a question now."

He sat back and thought for a moment. "So what are your hobbies? Other than kicking my ass." He smiled.

"Honestly, you kind of know them. Fighting. Herbs. Poisons. Sometimes, I'd…" She blushed. "Sometimes, I'd go and spy on people. That sounds so bad now that it's happened to me. Don't think that's a hobby anymore. I guess I'd sometimes read too."

"Peeping tom." He chuckled at her. "Yeah I would read too. I doubt you would actually be able to guess mine, but I like to bake and cook. Pretty good at it too." He said with a smile.

She smiled. "In my defense, they were training me to do that. It also turned out to be for the best because that old guy, what's his face, that used to live next to the school… he was a total creep. I'll leave it at that. As for the baking and cooking. I'm jealous. I'm not great at it, but I won't starve either."

"It was either, learn to cook and bake. Or starve." He said honestly. "Plus side though, it has helped me plenty of times." He smirked to himself. "If you want, I could teach you a few recipes. Cook them for your parents if you want."

"I'd actually really like that." She responded affirmatively. "It would be nice to make them a dinner sometime… Hey, Astero?"

"Yeah Mag?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.

She made a face as her mind went over the possibilities. "Do you think that it'd be insulting to them if I found a place nearby to live? As nice as it is to have them…" She didn't finish her sentence, just letting it trail off.

"It feels weird. Doesn't it?" He asked her seriously. "You just met them, what? Yesterday? Your still getting used to them." he told her simply. "If I were you, start saving money, then move out. Just let them know first." he said, giving her his two cents. "They should understand that you are an adult."

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and rubbing her temples. "I don't know how ready I am to have my own place. It's… a lot of responsibility." She admitted. "I wish that this was easier."

"I did it for years. I understand how hard it can be though, it wasn't an easy transition." He sighed thinking of his first few months alone. "I would recommend getting a roommate." He said honestly.

"Where are you going to be, As?" She asked seriously.

"I have no idea. I was thinking of leaving town for a bit, but will probably just get an apartment in town if I am being honest." He said looking back at her.

"Hey, As?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

She looked him dead in the eyes. "This sounds crazy, but… do you want to live together? Just friends. Sharing a place."

Astero was a little shocked by her words. "I have never had a roommate before… let alone a female one." He said quietly. He thought it over for several minutes to himself, and looked back at Magdiana. "Yeah I guess. I would rather it be you then some random person." He said honestly.

She smiled widely at his positive response. She walked over to him and pulled him into a tentative hug. "Thanks, Astero."

He gently hugged her back, and pulled away. "No problem." He smiled at her. "Also… Is that the first time we ever hugged?" He asked her seriously.

"No." She responded honestly. "But, you probably don't remember it. Just like the time we kissed."

"Ok… please explain that. Because I am drawing a blank." He said honestly.

She sighed, sitting next to him. "We were brought to the elder's place when your parents…" She trailed off. "When your parents died. You kinda cried yourself dry in my arms practically, and, when you passed out from it, I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed a blanket and tucked you in. I gave you a hug and a kiss."

He was speechless for a moment, before smile cracked his lips. "Thank you." He said quietly. "I thought we actually 'kissed', I would have beaten myself up if it was that. I am glad it was you being a great friend." He said honestly to her with a smile.

"Can I be honest with you?" She asked a bit nervously.

"Isn't that what we have been doing?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but this one is kinda big…" She admitted, looking over at him before staring away. "Uh, thanks for being my first kiss."

He chuckled. "Your welcome. Thank you for being the first girl to kiss me." He said nudging her lightly. "It would have been ten years later otherwise." He chuckled.

"Yeah." She responded, cringing. "And, Jackson was a terrible kisser. It was gross."

"So was your friend." He shook his head. "Was like kissing a statue."

"They were meant for each other." She laughed. "And she totally deserved the itching powder."

"Ouch." He chuckled. "Jokes on her then, I was told he had crabs. So she will be itching for awhile."

Magdiana shivered. "So glad that I threatened to stab him rather than fuck him now."

"Oh yeah. Trust me… you dodged an arrow with him." He told her honestly. "He has been known to cheat with like three girls at once."

"Creep." She growled. "Probably should've just stabbed him and saved the other ladies in school a lot of pain."

"Nah. Let them figure it out." He said waving a hand at her. "Most of them were idiots. I have met dogs with more brians." He grumbled, clearly annoyed.

She chuckled. "Anne had the sense to ignore that asshole and pin you down, though. At least, for awhile. You two were… downright enviable."

"It was anything but. Anne was nice, but behind closed doors, she was toxic." He said honestly.

"Oh." She frowned. "I never realized. You two always looked so happy. I admit, I always wanted what that relationship looked like from the outside."

"Looked happy for a while, but it fell apart in the end." He admitted, before looking at her. "Don't worry, you will find someone." He said reassuringly.

She shook her head. "I think that I just want to be Magdiana for awhile. I'm still trying to figure out how it all comes together with the whole parents thing. I don't really want a guy to complicate that…" She looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn't. "I almost got way too personal there. Sorry."

"It's fine. I get it." He said in agreement. "For the time being, I will focus on getting a place to stay in. You focus on just saving." He explained

"I need a job." She laughed. "Between the two of us, though, I know we've got at least forty gold."

"A few less than that. I spent some on clothes." he said honestly

Magdiana smiled. "It's okay. I still have some more from working at the shop." Her mind started to work overtime then, and her smile grew insanely wide. "I just realized that we have so many options we didn't have before. We could… we could adventure."

"That is not what I was expecting." He said honestly, thinking the option over in his head. "It would be the best idea, and gives us the chance to get stronger too." He added.

"I mean, I'll still get a real job, but… we could never do that before. They wouldn't have let us." She looked at him, bouncing with sudden excitement.

"I don't think I have ever seen you so excited." He laughed at her giddiness.

She nodded. "This is better than the solstice celebration."

"You must have had a great time during that time, because I thought it was garbage." He said honestly. "I will get a job too. Might as well double up on everything."

"Did your family… when you were younger… not exchange gifts for the winter solstice?" She asked curiously. "And, yeah, the more money, the faster we can make this happen. Living with… admittedly… my best friend."

"It just begs the question then. House or apartment?" He asked her seriously. "Because it might be cheaper to get a house over an apartment. Depending on how much we make."

She looked at him for a long moment. "You think you can put up with me long enough to buy a house with me?"

He scoffed at her. "Please, we lasted this long today without punching each others teeth in. If anything, we are taking a step in the right direction." He smiled at her.

"Alright. So, why don't we save to buy the house, but try to make it through a summer here before we make a decision." She laughed.

"Agreed." he nodded. "It will give us time to get a good amount of coin saved."

"So, are either of us actually going to ask a question that the other doesn't want to answer?" She laughed. "Because, so far, we have defeated the purpose of truth or dare."

"Well we already know who each others first kiss was." He chuckled. "Who was the first person you slept with?" He said getting right into it.

She nodded. "Wow. That escalated quickly. Do you remember that guy who graduated a couple years ahead of us? Darren. Black hair, kinda pale?"

"Vaguely." he replied back. "That guy? Really?" He asked her.

"Yeah." She responded. "He was… very sweet. I'll leave it at that. If you could have dinner with your parents right now, what would the first thing you say to them be? Besides all the obvious reunion stuff."

"Gods I missed you." He said simply.

She nudged him with her elbow. "That's obvious reunion stuff, but that's okay. You can keep your secrets."

"It would be more along the lines of how they thought i turned out." He added. "But I am really not too sure. Probably whatever you did with your parents." he smiled at her.

"Honestly? I never asked." She told him. "It was obvious from their reactions that they didn't care if I was the world's biggest screw up. I was theirs."

"I'm jealous." He smiled at her.

"Don't be. I just had to ask my Dad what my last name was." She sighed.

"You at least have someone to ask." He joked, nudging her lightly. "What is your last name?" He asked her curiously.

She sat back and answered. "Rothenel. My parents gave a defenseless infant a seven syllable name."

"The savages. They could have at least given you a shorter first name." He chuckled.

"It was, apparently, my grandmother's name." She responded. "Which I can understand, but I've never known her. So, it's kind of hard to appreciate."

He nodded understanding her predicament. "It's not so bad. Mag is still pretty good." He said looking at her. "So what is the most wasted you have ever been?" He asked her, knowing it was his turn to ask a question.

"Eh. I've never blacked out or anything. Just some wine and things. But, I did black out once when working at the shop. Didn't know that some drugs could be inhaled at the time." She laughed. "I apparently said some very interesting things that I don't remember."

"Well that's one way to learn about drugs." He chuckled.

"Yeah, and every word I said was in my file too." She rolled her eyes. "Apparently, I am very open when I'm high off my ass… Have you ever thought about me sexually?" She asked, escalating her inquiry to the next level and waiting for him to refuse the question.

Astero slowly turned to her with a raised eyebrow, and put his hands in his head. "Yeah." He sighed. "In my defense, I was drunk and it was the warmest day in Yutan at the time."

"It's okay. We've been in pretty close quarters all our lives. I expected it… especially since I have too." She responded. "Your question."

Astero shifted on the log a bit. "Okay, since we are already getting to the crazy and dirtier secrets. What is the kinkiest thing you did to a guy?" He asked raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

She looked at him steadily. "Uh, I… he tried to take one of the daggers that are holstered on my back off, and I threatened him with it. He liked it."

"Oh, one of those types." He chuckled. "Bet that was an interesting experience."

"It was." She responded. "Apparently, I made a very good dominant for him." She shrugged. "Have you ever wanted to kill someone?"

"I have killed someone." He said seriously. "But no one has ever pissed me off to the point of it. Nor have I ever just wanted to do it for sport." He said calmly.

"I'm legitimately upset that The King already took care of the people who screwed with our lives so badly. If there were ever a person… people that I wanted to kill… it's them." She resolved.

"I'm glad he did it then." He said looking off into the distance. "Because it would have been closer to torture if I got hold of them." He said, letting out a long sigh.

She nodded. "You're not alone."

"Thank the gods for that." He nodded back at her. "So why daggers? Of all the weapons, why those?" He asked her.

She took one out of its holster, brandishing it before them. "It's what I'm best with, for one. It's versatile. I can use it to cut herbs or slit a throat. I can use it up close or at range. They're cheap, and I can keep dozens of them on my person at a time."

"How many? Twelve?" He asked her, not entirely sure on the number.

"Currently? Fourteen." She responded easily.

"Where do you keep them all?" He asked her seriously. "I know you have a few on your legs and back, but I cannot figure out the rest."

She laughed, "There are eight on my legs. Three on my waist. Two- one on each forearm. And one in a holster on my back."

"Huh. If you ever get a coat, you could hide even more." He chuckled before he remembered something. "Wait, when you came into my tent the other night, were you wearing the holster?" He asked.

"I didn't disarm myself during that entire adventure. That being said, I sleep with that one under my pillow. It's uncomfortable at night." She answered honestly.

"Ah. That would explain that then." He said to himself.

She thought for a minute before deciding on a question. "What's it like to have killed somebody?"

He looked at her intently. "It is a very powerful feeling. Like playing god." He deadpanned. "The downside is living with it."

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "Neither of us is going to refuse to answer. Are they?"

"It's fine, not your fault." He sighed slightly. "Nope." He added, popping the 'p'.

"I regret not thinking of you as my closest friend sooner." She told him. "I honestly never realized it until it was practically shoved in my face."

"Same. You are more interesting than I thought you would be. Not to mention a great person to talk to." he said looking at her with a smile. "Thanks." He said rubbing her shoulder.

"Hey, As? Do you wanna go get day drunk and overshare with each other?" She offered seriously.

"I don't have anywhere to be, unless you do." He responded honestly. "So sure."

She laughed. "Damn. I guess that we'll have to go back and prove Wake correct. Shame, really."

"Worst case scenario, just hit him with another dagger. You already did it once while half asleep. It will be a cake walk wide awake." He laughed at her.

She laughed, standing up and offering him her hands. "Well, you're not wrong. Let's go back to The Rook."

He pulled himself up with her hands, bumping into her slightly he dusted himself off. "Shall we?" He chuckled, letting her lead the way since he had no real clue how to get back.

She chuckled and started to lead the way. "So, I won't push, but I'm willing to bet that my parents would like to meet you sometime. Especially, if we're gonna live together."

Astero sighed. "Yeah, I figured they would want to. I just hope they don't try to kick my ass." He joked.

"Uh, yeah… about that… my mom got really fired up about the shiner. Sorry." She winced.

"Thank fuck, I can cast sheild." He said quietly.

She laughed. "I'll tell her the why. Maybe, she'll understand."

"I'm hoping." he sighed before her looked at her. "What is your mom? A cleric?" He asked making sure he had his facts straight.

"Yeah, she's the cleric. Dad's the paladin… I saw what he can do… shit's scary." She cringed.

"Great… I pissed off the one who can kick my as, then heal me, just to repeat the process." He winced. "Maybe we shouldn't spar anymore."

"Technically… I could do the same." She laughed. "And, they're just going to have to get used to it because I'm not stopping our spars."

"Okay good." he smiled at her. "Because it would be a bitch to find a good sparring partner." He laughed.

She nodded emphatically. "Yeah, we'd either kill the poor sucker or get our asses kicked in or scare the person away after the first bout."

He nodded back at her. "Yeah… pretty much spot on." He chuckled. "We are kind of intense."

"I don't think that there's any substitute at this point. You're stuck with me." She laughed. "Hey, I have a question…"

"Oh no… however will I survive." he said sarcastically, before he turned to her. "What's up?" He asked.

She got a funny, conspiratorial look on her face. "Did you ever have a crush on me?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, and shook his head. "No. I only ever saw you as a challenge… Why? Did you have one on me?" He asked her back.

"No, not really." She waved a hand. "I was just curious if I was somehow fulfilling some childhood fantasy or something by living with you."

He chuckled. "No. The only childhood fantasy I have ever had, is to get a cake for my birthday." He said with a slight frown.

She suddenly sobered up. "You never had a cake for your birthday?"

"No." He said shaking his head. "And if I did, I don't remember it. I was really young when I had to start living by myself."

She frowned. "Motherfucker." She muttered. "I'm going to bake you… with my impressive baking skills, mind you, two fucking birthday cakes this year."

Astero made an odd face. "I'm pretty sure, I could make a better one. And I would much rather have a trial version to know what I am getting myself into." He chuckled at her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not that bad. It'll be edible… just fugly."

He smiled at her. "If it looks like crap, but tastes good. It is good." He recited. "I got a few tips from one of the cooks in evermore." He smiled.

At this point, they were walking into The Rook, and both quickly made their way to a table at the bar. "What's your favorite drink?" Magdiana asked.

"Chocolate milk." He said honestly. "Quick and simple, but tastes delicious."

She facepalmed. "I should've been more specific. Alcohol."

"Oh… that would be a pina colada." He chuckled. "It has flavor."

"Strawberry daquiri." She responded in turn.

"Huh, we both like fruity drinks." He smiled, waving a hand for a waitress.

She smiled. "Fruit is good. There was never enough back home."

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to get an orange?" He agreed. "It was a fucking nightmare!"

"Yes, I do." She nodded. "Orange rinds are a huge thing for herbal remedies."

"Damn. I am sorry." He said apologetically. "I had to know a guy to even be able to get mine." He shook his head.

She smirked. "Which guy?"

"Henry." He said simply.

She made a face. "Worst fence in town. You kidding me?"

"No. But I got them for the cheapest there." He sighed.

"He was cheap, but, also, slow as fuck." She told him before placing her order with the waitress.

He placed his order as well. He waited a moment for her to leave before he turned back to Magdiana. "Oh yeah. I know." he sighed longer. "Two months for five oranges. And they weren't even that great."

"I'm sorry." She told him. "Let me get my feelers in place here, and, if you need anything, just let me know. I'm good with those types."

"Thanks." he smiled at her. "There are a few recipes I want to try making but never could get the ingredients. So any food I make you will be getting some of that." He chuckled. "Think of it as a small form of payment."

"You had me at food." She responded, eyeing a familiar blue tiefling as he walked by.

Astero saw her glance towards Wake, and he leaned back in his seat to get more comfortable. "Good. You are going to like it."

"I predict gloating incoming in five… four… three… two…" She looked up to see Wake turning a chair around and straddling it. "Hey."

"Well. Good afternoon you two. I see you are both in good spirits." He chuckled, looking at the two of them over.

"Yup." She hedged.

"Mhmm." Astero quietly hummed.

Wake sighed, and looked the two of them over. "Oh, drop the act." He said shaking his head at them. "Raze heard the whole conversation before you left this morning. She told me about you two going to 'talk'." He said giving air quotes.

"Of course she would tell you." Astero sighed. "And yes. We just talked. You ass."

Wake gave a small smile, and raised his hands. "Hey I just say what I heard." He said defensively, before turning to Magdiana. "Like you bringing your brother home." He deadpanned.

She winced and bashed her head into the table. "Fuck. I totally forgot. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I am the world's worst sibling."

"You are lucky I talked to your father after I heard about your chat." He said seriously. "And don't worry he is fine. I brought him home, and told him you asked me to bring him home instead after some 'business' came up. He talked all about you on the way home." He said letting it sink in deeper.

She left her head on the table. "I'm an idiot."

Astero looked at her oddly. "I asked you if you had anywhere to be. You said no. The fuck Mag?!" He said shaking his head at her.

"Dude." She said quietly. "It's not like I grew up being an older sister. I found out about it like fucking yesterday. I forgot."

He shook his head slightly, and looked over at her. "You better go and spend time with him tomorrow… in fact you are spending time with him." Astero said seriously.

"I will." She told him. "I have to put the daggers away around him, though. He really wants me to show him how I use them. Apparently, mom will have a heart attack though."

Wake sighed at that. "I have seen your mom bash a guy's skull in. Why she is so protective of Jacob I will never understand. Mark my words, he is going to be a monster when her gets older." He chuckled.

"Wake… her first child was taken away and raised by strangers. Why do you think she's protective?" She deadpanned.

"Okay, let me reiterate. I understand that you were taken, but she could have taught him to wield a dagger, or at least some self defense classes. Gods only know your mom can do it." Wake said seriously.

"I just don't want to start a fight by teaching him something I shouldn't." She finally whispered. "Dad was upset that there's so little he can teach me."

"It wouldn't be much of a fight." Wake silently whispered, before nodding in agreement to her. "Yeah, we talked a lot while you were gone. And today. He was upset, but he is far happier knowing you are alive and well, than not being able to spend time with you."

She looked between Wake and Astero. "I have no idea what to do here… wait a fucking second. Did you go report the details of our spar to my Dad?"

Wake shook his head. "No. I told him I was there for it, and that you two fight like lunatics. But I didn't take notes on it." He shook his head at her. "We don't do that. The ones in yutan did."

She nodded. "That's fine. Just wanted to know if when we fight he's going to know my tricks."

Wake laughed at her words. "Oh. you make it sound like you have a chance." He said wiping away a stray tear. "Your dad could take they both of you on, and you would still lose."

"I kinda figured after he showed me how he throws a single dagger, but I'm scrappy. I'll last longer than you think." She chuckled. She pointed a thumb at Astero. "And, this one, would let out all the stops."

"Would drop you first." Wake said pointing a finger her. "And then stun him, to beat the shit out of you, with her." He said turning to Astero, and waving his fingers in turn.

"I doubt he is that good." Astero said in disbelief, looking to Magdiana for some kind of reassurance.

Magdiana looked at Astero dead on. "You know the targets I hit daggers with?"

"Yeah, why?" He asked her.

"My Dad obliterated one with a single glowing axe the other day. It was horrifying." She told him.

"The fuck?" He mumbled. "Remind me not to piss off either of your parents." He shivered.

"My Dad thinks he can teach me the glowy axe thing." She smiled.

"Ugh." Astero sighed. "Please no. It is already hard enough to keep up with you, i don't need to try and keep up with that as well." He frowned.

She frowned. "Dude, once you get your extra extra extra attack, my shitty daggers won't be able to keep up."

He looked up to her. "Do you have any idea how long that is going to take?" he asked simply. "It took us over twenty years to get where we are now. That will be an eternity away." He sighed deeply.

"And what if it wasn't?" Wake asked the two of them with a small grin.

"What?" Astero replied, confused.

"I'm confused." Magdiana added.

"Like you said. It took you twenty years to get where you are now, but you were only fighting each other." He said simply. "I bet you two know each others tells, and if the other person is holding back in an instant right?" He asked the two.

Magdiana nodded. "Hells, a few years ago, I knew he had the flu before he did because he was so sluggish."

Astero nodded as well. "And I can tell when it is about to be shark week for her, just by her actions." He said simply.

Wake cringed a bit. "Yeah… exactly…" He sighed, looking to Astero and shaking his head. "That being said," He said changing the subject. "If you two work together, and fight someone who is stronger, you will learn a hell of a lot quicker. And even bounce ideas off of one another too." He said simply for them.

"Who're we gonna fight?" Magdiana asked, feeling kind of baffled. "Other than my dad."

Wake smiled, and looked at the two of them. "Hello." He said taking a sip of his drink.

Astero looked at wake for a moment, looking a little confused. "Wait, you want to fight us? Why wouldn't we just fight her dad, or someone similar." He asked seriously.

"Because… unlike her dad. I didn't stop training." Wake deadpanned. "Marius settled own, and had shit go sideways. I kept on the seas, needing to fight off pirates and the like." He grinned.

"I know that you've got magic, but I never did figure out what kind." Magdiana commented, humming in thought. "That ship spell was pretty strong…"

"Yes it is. Which is where we will be training." He smiled back at her. "And maybe if you can get close enough, you will be able to figure out what I am." He said standing up. "But that will be your call to make." He said turning and walking away.

"I'm in." Astero said eagerly.

Magdiana sighed, grabbing her neck and making a painful looking gesture. "I'm in so long as he doesn't use the rigging to strangle me."

"No strangling." He chuckled, turning to face them for a moment. "There is no reason to do that. Far too impersonal." He chuckled. "Then meet me on the ship the day after tomorrow. At dawn." He told them.

Magdiana nodded. "Deal."

"Deal." Astero said, in near perfect unison.

"Oh, this is going to be fun." Wake chuckled, leaving them to their own devices.

"So, get a job, play with Jacob. Sleep. Get my ass kicked… correction… get our asses kicked. Repeat." She laughed.

He laughed as well. "Seems that way. At least we will be kept busy."

"House. House. House." She repeated quietly, thinking about the end goal.

He took a deep breath and took a sip of his drink. "We got this." He said confidently. "We will just hurt more than usual." He frowned, thinking about what Wake might be able to do. "Mag… we just said we will fight a guy, without any idea of what he is capable of doing… what the fuck is wrong with us?" He asked her seriously.

She sighed heavily. "As… we were kinda… indoctrinated into this. You can't tell me it doesn't excite you a little bit. Moreover, I trust him. The King trusted him to get us out of Yutan."

"Yeah, it does. And I do trust him. Even if he is an ass." he sighed, taking a drink. "So are we oversharing or what?" He asked with a chuckle.

She took a drink of her daquiri. "Where do we even start?"

He shook his head at her. "I have no fucking clue." he chuckled. "We already learned a good bit about each other earlier. What else can we learn?" He asked her.

"When our lives have settled down and things are less crazy, where do you see yourself?" She'd asked quietly, looking him steadily in the eyes.

Astero looked back at her, and thought it over. It wasn't something he had actually thought about. "I don't know." He said honestly. "Maybe being a chef or a baker, I know I can do that, so I might as well use it." He shrugged.

Her eyes were closed as she thought for a moment. "I can't say what I'm doing or who I'm with, but I have this sort of vision in my head. It just feels… happy. Like family."

"That sounds nice." He smiled at her. "Peaceful." He chuckled, thinking of a question to ask. "What do you think you would be doing if you didn't get taken?" He asked her.

"Honestly, I'd probably be a full cleric. The rogue thing doesn't strike me as something my parents would've taught me. I think the rest would be similar. Maybe, without the poisons." She shrugged. "Might've passed geography."

"Maybe." He chuckled. "I would have been a wizard then, something magicy." He chuckled.

"Have you ever been in love?" She asked out of nowhere. It felt like word vomit. It was.

"I thought I was with Anne. but it was the idea of her I was in love with. So no." He replied quickly.

She nodded, responding with a whisper. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, you did nothing wrong." He replied, looking her over. "Do you have any tattoos?" he asked.

"I'm surprised you didn't notice one of them." She giggled, taking a drink and turning around. An arm reached around to point to her shoulder blade. "It's right here."

He tilted his head to the side. "Huh, guess I just never looked." he chuckled. "So where are the rest?"

"I've got a couple on my legs." She responded. "Nothing major. You?"

"Okay. Makes sense." He nodded. "Uh yeah, it's on my back. A pretty big one too." He said pointing to the are above his shoulder blades and down most of his back. "That took a while to do." He winced slightly.

"I couldn't do that. I'm way too wiggly." She laughed. "I've got a serious one that will make you laugh."

"Go on." He grinned at her.

She nodded. "Alright. Marry. Fuck. Kill. You know the rules right?"

"Duh. It was commonplace among the guys at school." He chuckled.

"Jackson. Wake. And the elder's son that we knocked out." She laughed.

Astero shook his head at her. "Okay first of all, I don't care for any of them. Secondly I would kill Jackson, fuck the son, and marry Wake." He said quickly.

"I honestly just wanted to see your reaction to those three." She laughed. "Anne. My former best friend, and me?"

"Fuck… okay that is a hrad one." He said thinking it over. "I would probably kill your best friend. Fuck Anne, and marry you." He said honestly.

"Huh. I guess I didn't realize you held me in such high regards. Expected to be fucked or killed." She commented.

"Nah. Killing you would be a chore and a half. And your friend was a right cunt. And I did like Anne for a bit, but it wouldn't have worked out no matter which way you look at it." He said taking a drink.

She took a drink. "Your turn."

"Okay. Wake. Jackson and me?" He asked her curiously.

"Well, I'm not catching whatever Jackson has, so I'm killing him. But, damn… that's hard… I guess I'd have to fuck Wake and marry you." She smirked, turning red.

"Aww. I'm flattered." He chuckled seeing her face change color.

She started to sound defensive. "Yeah, well, Wake is already a married man, so…"

Astero raised an eyebrow at her, and sat back after a moment. "Holy shit… you have a crush on me…" He said flabbergasted.

"I did not say that." Magdiana said quietly.

"No… but you have been asking all these questions. And grinning slightly everytime I answer the ones you like." He said still shocked. "How long have you had a crush on me?" He asked seriously.

Magdiana thought for a minute. "As… I don't want to ruin what we have…"

"And you won't." He said simply. "I just want to know."

"I- it was around the time you were dating Anne, I guess." She blushed, taking a long drink and looking away.

Astero sat back and took a long drink as well. He needed it after that revelation. The two went quiet for a minute before he broke the silence. "Why me?" He asked her intently. "Gods only know that there were plenty of other guys who were better."

Magdiana looked into her drink for a long time. She knew the answer, but she was afraid for him to know. She sighed, eventually, deciding to just tell him. "Because I feel most alive with you."

"Most alive?" He quietly asked.

"Like… everything can be dull and grey, but, then, life is exhilarating." She said quietly. "I'm sorry. This is stupid. Forget I said anything."

Astero was quiet for a long moment, thinking over her words. "I- I can't say that I feel the same way about you… But, I do get that feeling around you too." He said seeing her look saddened. "I am glad that you told me." He said honestly. "It must have been a dream come true to run away with me then" He chuckled trying to lighten the mood.

"Living nightmare, more like." She replied. "Thought that one of us… maybe both of us… were going to die."

"But we didn't. Here we are." He said waving around them. "And that was thanks to you." he smiled.

"You helped." She said. "A lot."

"You were the one who broke into the house and got us the gold we didn't use." he chuckled. "Most of the time I just followed you." He said honestly.

She shook her head. "If you think I would be here without you, you're wrong. Once again, I would've died."

Astero stood up and moved around the table to sit beside her. "I know I gave you warmth, and got you through the night." He said looking into her eyes. "But I also know two things. One, you are without a doubt the most stubborn woman I have ever met, and will not give up, even when she gets her ass handed to her. Secondly, you have a god on your side." He deadpanned "I doubt they would have let you die to something as stupid as the cold."

"As? No offense, but you're way too close. My hopes are too high, and my drink is way too empty for this at the moment." She told him quietly. "I'm sorry."

He sighed, and moved to the other side of the table. "Your fine." He said finishing his drink. "Might have pushed a little too far with those last few questions." He said quietly.

"I… understand if you don't want to do any of the things we talked about today." She said sadly.

He looked up at her, and shook his head. "No, I am a man of word." He said honestly. "It will just be odd, knowing that the girl who is living with me, likes me." He chuckled.

She nodded. "I never meant to share this. I don't expect anything. I never did."

"Neither did I." He sighed. "But it is what it is." He said honestly. "We will work through this regardless."

"You better not hold back during spars." She threatened.

He chuckled at her. "Oh gods no. I am done holding back now." He said seriously. "I am going to make sure you know what you are in for." He chuckled.

She cocked her head to the side. "Please don't make it sound like you're ever going to agree to be a thing. I think I'd rather just be disappointed than feel false hope."

"I will be completely honest. I have no clue. Up until last night, I have thought of you as a rival.

And today a friend." He said seriously, looking directly at her. "I have never thought of you in that way before, and I might never… but it might happen. I am willing to at least try." He said seriously. "Not right away, we have other things to worry about first, like Wake and jobs. But I will give it a shot." He smiled at her.

She nodded and reached out a hand to hold his. She squeezed it once before letting go. "Thank you." She said. "I need more alcohol. That was nerve wrecking."

He chuckled at her. "You're welcome." He softly replied, before he stood up and placed a few coins on the table. "Here. Please don't drink yourself stupid." He said placing a hand on her shoulder. "In the meantime, I am going to go to bed… I need to think about a few things." He chuckled at her. "I will see you when we fight Wake, Okay?" He asked with a smile.

"Yeah. See you then." She nodded, flagging down the waitress and ordering another round. "Night."

"Night." Astero said, turning and making his way up to his room. He walked inside and damn near collapsed on the bed. Thank the gods, he was good at keeping a straight face. He sighed deeply into his pillow before he turned around and face palmed, dragging his hands down and staring at the ceiling. "What. The. Fuck. Astero." He sighed. "You have just made things way more complicated than they needed to be." He wasn't sure why he said that. Maybe it was because he thought he needed to help everyone, no matter the situation. He wasn't sure, but he knew it did have something to do with Mag.

The two had fought for decades, and the whole time they always made sure the other was cared for. If they hurt the other, they would make sure that the other was healed, Mag being the one to do the healing. Astero thought about this, thinking of all the times she had healed him, and about what she had said earlier about their first kiss. It was sweet of her to do that for him, and he was glad she did it. Those were some of his darkest days, and she had kept him going.

Astero thought about Mag words throughout most of the night. Trying to think if he thought the same way about her. She wasn't bad looking by any means, hells most of the guys at school thought that she was in the top ten of the hottest girls. He knew this, so it wasn't about looks. He was more thinking about her attitude. She was a fighter like him. Not in the actual sense but in mind set, when she faced an obstacle she couldn't overcome, she thought of a way around it, like what he did. He let out a long sigh when he realised just how much the two of them actually rubbed off on one another over the years. They knew so much about the other that they even knew how the other was feeling at any given time.

It was something he wanted with Anne, but would never get. She was just in it for his popularity, and that was what caused their downfall. Mag on the other hand, she not only knew how he was doing, but could tell how he was feeling as well. He was shocked that she could tell that, by movements alone. He smiled when he thought of all the small gestures of comfort she had given over the years, and then frowned when he realized the meanings behind it. He needed to give her the chance, she deserved it after everything they had been through together. He sat up in his bed, happy with his answer. He could think of her as more than a friend, it just might take him some time to get there. He looked at the window, and saw the sun starting to rise. He shook his head and sighed deeply. He was going to sleep in tomorrow, he figured he would need all the rest he could get to beat Wake.

Magdiana received her drink and sighed. She drank deeply. She never meant for this to happen. She had been content to just stay Astero's… whatever. Friend… nothing quite fit right. Rival wasn't bad. Friend felt strange. She didn't want things to change. At least, the way things were, she got to see him everyday. She looked into her drink and took a deep breath. Just as she was about to sigh again, something red appeared in her vision. "Hey, Raze." She whispered.

"Mag." The woman said quietly.

"You hear everything in this place, don't you?" Magdiana asked, already knowing the answer.

Raze nodded once. "Are you okay?"

Magdiana shrugged, finishing her drink in one gulp. "No, but I will be." She left the coins that atten Astero had placed on the table. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, dear." The woman smiled, standing up and retrieving her spouse before pushing him out the door along with the young woman. "Be a darling and get her home. She looks sauced." The woman ordered before retreating back into the building.

Magdiana and Wake walked quietly to her house, and, when they made it within viewing distance, she stopped. "You were wrong, Wake." She didn't wait for him to respond before walking away.

He stopped and watched her walk into the house. He sighed deeply and looked in the direction she went. "You have no idea how wrong I was." He said into the darkness, before he turned and began to walk back. "I doubt even The King knew that this was going to happen, and he saw most of this coming." He sighed, going back to his wife and sleeping for the night.


	5. Overloaded

Magdiana slept fitfully. Thankfully, nobody woke her up during the night, but she tossed and turned having multiple nightmares that had her waking up in a cold sweat in the morning. Finally, she gave up. She was awake. She took a shower and started her usual stretches and workout in the front yard. As she had the previous day, Eri called her inside. Magdiana didn't say a word as she walked in. She just pulled her mother into a crushing hug. "I love you, Mom."

Eri was a little taken aback by Magdianas sudden hug, but she hugged her daughter back comfortingly. "I love you, too." She whispered to her.

"Sorry." Magdiana mumbled. "Just kinda had a rough night. I'm fine." Without another word, she walked to the table and started in on her breakfast. After she was done, she looked between her parents. "I'm going to go look for a job today. If I don't find something to do, before long, I'm going to start getting in trouble." She looked to Jacob. "And, I'll actually pick you up from school today. Sorry about yesterday."

"It's okay, sis. Wake told you were busy." Jacob said with a small smile. "Wake got to tell me some stories while he was at sea." He smiled wider now. "Wake is so cool!" He said now giddy.

Eri smiled at her son. "Jacob, calm down." She sighed, before turning to her daughter. "A job?" She asked curiously. "We don't mind giving you money dear, but if you are certain, we won't stop you." She said honestly to her, looking a little lost.

Marius looked to Eri and then to Magdiana. "We won't stop you. If anything, we will help you. All you gotta do is ask. With anything at all." He smiled at his daughter.

"To be honest, I'm kind of bored." Magdiana said. "I had stuff to do in Yutan. I don't have that here yet. And, some spending money would be nice sometimes. I don't want to keep asking for it when I can earn it."

Marius smiled. "That makes sense. Going from a life of constant movement, to a halt is a jarring one. I get it, we have been there." He sighed.

Eri nodded as well, sighing as she did so. "I went from a Master Sergeant in the military, to a wife and mother. It was… hard... to get used to everything." She sighed deeply. "But we got through it." She said, a smile taking her face again.

"Yes dear." Marius smiled at her. "You are, and always will be, a badass." He chuckled.

Jacob raised an eyebrow at his parents. "But I thought dad was in the military. Not mom." He said with an odd look about him.

Marius looked to Jacob. "Your Mom, was much stronger than me. She still is." He said seriously. "She was the only one to ever beat Wake in a one on one fight." He smiled at Eri.

"Oh stop it." She waved him off. "He's a glass cannon. Good for a few moments then done." She smirked.

"What can Wake do, anyway?" Magdiana asked. "I know he cast a spell on the ship, but that's it."

Eri and Marius turned to look at her at the same time. "Spell on the ship?" They asked in unison.

"He can control the rigging with his mind or something. It's crazy." She enthused.

Marius looked to Eri. "Since when was he able to do something like that?" He asked her seriously.

Eri looked back at Marius confused. "Well he never really stopped doing his thing after we settled down. So I guess he learned some new things." she mused for a moment before looking to Mag. "Wake is a lot like your father, except he gets his powers from a different source." She explained to her. "Without going into the details, he made a deal." She said oversimplifying the process.

"Yeah, he can smite like me, but has some extra things as well. We just don't understand it all." Marius sighed. "He really is weird."

"Oh, gods, I'm going to get my teeth kicked in tomorrow." Magdiana mumbled wearily.

"Uh, what!?" Eri asked seriously. "What do you mean 'get your teeth kicked in'? Are you fighting Wake or something? Why would you fight him? He is a married man, and should not fighting my children!" She said fast and quickly, going into overprotective mother mode.

Marius sighed, and facepalmed. He looked over to magdiana with a face of "Are you fucking kidding me?". He stood up and held Eri close to him, trying to calm her down. "Eri. Eri. Eri. Please just breath." He said calmingly. "Mag probably has a pretty good reason for wanting to fight wake. Right?" He said turning to look at his daughter, also wanting to know why.

"Huh, I didn't expect that reaction. Astero and I are kinda stagnant as far as sparring with one another, so Wake offered to help since I didn't think Dad would be willing to hurt me." She responded honestly.

Marius sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't have the wherewithal to do it. Your friend, oh yeah he is fair game. But I wouldn't be able to hit you." He said honestly.

Eri sighed deeply, looking to marius and the Magdiana. "Your father always was a softy… if you are going to fight him, just know, he likes to play dirty. And he will do whatever is necessary to win." She said simply for her. "And if you or your friend Astero need healing, please come to me. I will make sure you two are right as rain afterwards." She sighed lightly. "Okay?"

"Tomorrow is going to hurt. Isn't it?" She winced. "And, of course, I'll come to you for healing. You're going to have to convince As, though. He's… parents are a sensitive subject."

Eri thought it over for a moment, before she looked to Magdiana again. "Then why don't i just come with you then?" She said simply. "Can't really say no, if he doesn't have a choice." She chuckled before taking a small bite of toast. "And mag. It is going to hurt a lot. Like I said, he literally can't hold back, so expect pain." She winced.

"Well, I guess he can't say no if you just so happen to show up." She said conspiratorially.

"Well then I guess that settles it then. I will just take my 10 kilometer jog earlier in the day then." Eri smiled at her daughter. "Just depends on how early."

Marius looked at the two of them and shivered. "You two are so alike it is terrifying." he said looking to jacob. "it's a good thing I have you on my side. Right?" He asked him with a smile, to keep him involved in the conversation.

Jacob nodded and saluted his father. "Yup." He said with a big smile.

"What was it that tipped you off? The 10 kilometer jog or the sneaky helpfulness?" Magdiana laughed.

"Well I do actually take a jog when everyone is out of the house, so it really is nothing. But to answer your question. The helpfulness." Eri smiled back at her.

"Hey, he doesn't have to know we planned it, right?" Her voice got darker and more threatening.

"Your friend?" Eri asked curiously, a smile wide on her face.

She nodded. "Yep."

"Planned what?" she asked, looking puzzled. A grin coming across her face a moment later.

Magdiana nodded. "I don't know. So, anyway, do you know any remedies places that might need some extra hands?"

"There is a place in town that does get pretty busy around this time of year. I would check there first." She smiled at her daughter.

"That would be great! I really don't want to wait tables in a bar or something." She said darkly. "One person touches me, and they're getting stabbed and I'm the one going to jail."

Eri took a sip of her drink. "Only if you get caught." She said with a slurp.

She laughed. "Oh, if someone touches me when I don't want them to, everyone within shouting distance will know it."

Eri smiled and shrugged. "I have no qualms with it. Just not my preferred method." She chuckled.

"Well, my preferred method is a good bit more brutal than should be mentioned at the breakfast table." Magdiana winked. "But, needless to say, there's going to be a scene."

"It's fine dear." Eri smiled, and winked back. "But for now, go and see if that place will hire you. And when you get the job, be sure to pick up Jacob." She smiled.

"Will do." She smiled, standing up. "Uh, where do I go?"

"It's down the street from where your father works, you can't miss it." She smiled back at her daughter.

Magdiana nodded. "If you don't mind, I'll just go with you. I don't want to get lost. This place is huge compared to Evermore."

Marius nodded, bringing his plate to the sink, before he looked to his daughter. "That's fine by me." he smiled, and looked down to jacob. "You ready champ?" He asked.

"Yup." He said quickly running to get his bag and returning a moment later. "Ready!"

"Then let's head off." He smiled to Magdiana.

"What do you want to do when we get back tonight, Jacob?" Magdiana asked her brother, actually feeling a little excited by the prospect.

Jacob looked to his mom, and then leaned in to whisper into her ear. "Daggers." He said simply.

Magdiana laughed. "Figures. Come on. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get home."

"Okay!" Jacob exclaimed, sprinting out the door.

Maruis sighed and watched as Jacob was by the gate in an instant. He turned to magdiana. "He wanted to see the daggers… didn't he." He whispered shutting the door behind him.

"How did you ever guess?" She snarked.

"Call it a hunch." he sighed, moving to catch up with the near sprinting boy. "Jacob! slowdown!"

"He's going to be ridiculous if he gets the magicky bullshit." She muttered.

Marius chuckled hard when she said that. "Oh I am dreading the day." He said honestly.

"There's a pretty good chance, isn't there? If I got it…?" She trailed off.

"Dreading… the day." He sighed deeply, rubbing his temples as he said that.

"Well, I didn't get it until like two tenday ago, so there's hope he'll make it through puberty first." She laughed.

Marius laughed. "If he goes through puberty, and, getting magic at the same time. We may not have a house afterwards." He chuckled.

"Hey, i haven't blown anything up yet, so consider it a win." She laughed. "Haven't done much other than heal and make my eyes glow funny, though. So, it could happen."

Marius put an arm around her, and pulled her close. "Thank you for being an optimist." he smiled at her. "I just hope Jacob, comes out half as good as you."

"Thanks, Dad. I'm a pretty shitty person, though, so don't get your hopes too high." She winked.

"You are just like your mother." He chuckled, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

She smiled. "You think this place will actually take someone from the middle of nowhere to work for them?"

"Did you make those piosions by yourself?" He asked her in response.

"The manufacturable ones, yeah. Can't exactly make carillon crawler mucus." She cringed.

"Then you will get the job." he smiled at her. "The shop doesn't have that great of a supply, so you might get a few promotions in short order." he explained to her.

She nodded. "I feel only slightly less nervous."

"Okay then, how about this. So long as you know how to make simple remedies. You will get hired. The only reason the are still in business is because they are the only one, shockingly enough." He said seriously.

"Alright. Well, I guess, here goes nothing." She laughed.

"Quit talking and hurry up!" Jacob yelled from ahead of them. "I want to throw blades!"

She laughed. "With that attitude, you'll be learning to hone it instead of use it today!"

"Yes!" He said jumping with joy. "I can't wait!"

"I really wish I know whether I was this excited about pointy objects when I was his age." She muttered.

"Well, have you asked your friend?" he asked her. "He would be the best one to ask." he said honestly.

She sighed. "I can't ask him right now…"

"Why is that? Did you get into a fight or something?" He asked her curiously.

She sighed. "It's… complicated."

Marius raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't want to press further. "Well, I am sure you two will figure it out whatever it is." He smiled at her reassuringly.

"I hope so. It's weird right now." She sighed again, wiping her face with her hand in frustration.

"Okay then. Well, I have a feeling it will get better. Things have been going great for us so far." He smiled.

She shook her head. "Nope, still weird. I'm just really good at faking it."

"Well then let me give you a bit of advice. Don't fake it too much, otherwise you will grow used to it." He said rubbing her back. "Trust me. It sucks."

"Honestly, it's just the 'Mom' and 'Dad' thing… I don't want to call you Marius. That's even weirder." She huffed, frowning and having her eyes water. "I shouldn't be calling my real parents by their first names."

Marius pulled her in for a hug. "Hey, don't worry, it will get better. And between you and me, this family is weird, have you met us?" He chuckled.

"I am pretty of the us you just mentioned. So, yes, I have." She laughed.

"Come on, lets get your brother to school before he starts dragging us." He smiled and went to catch up.

Marius and Magdiana dropped the boy off before heading towards the two businesses. Magdiana gave her father a quick hug before heading into the shop. She glanced around briefly before finding a shop keep and greeting him. "Hello." She said quietly.

"Hello miss." A tired human replied, looking her over curiously. "How can I help you?"

"Actually, I was wondering if I could help you." She said with more confidence than she felt. "I just got here from Yutan, and I used to work in a place like this. I'm looking to maybe get a job."

The man looked her over for a moment then yawned. "Do you know how to make a healing potion?" he asked.

"Yes." She responded affirmatively.

"And do you know how to make other potions?" he asked looking a little more intently at her.

"Herbal remedies and poisons are my wheelhouse, but I can make a few potions. Healing and water walking mostly." She explained.

He stood up straight now, and looked her over one more time. "Well if you are as good as you say you are, I will want to see some proof." he said beginning to walk to the back. "Follow me."

She nodded and followed without question. "What's your name, by the way?"

"You can call me Charles." he said looking at her and stopping. Next to them was a small alchemy station. "Well, if you can make a healing potion. You hired." he said simply, gesturing to the station.

"Which type?" She asked seriously.

Charles was taken aback. "Surprise me?" he asked curiously, stepping back to see if she really could do the job.

"Alright. Come back in a couple hours then.* She told him, getting to work.

He left her to her business, both intrigued and skeptical of her. He took a few glances to see her progress, but was told to leave every time. He shook his head and waited for her to come out of the back room.

When Magdiana was done, she returned with one glowing vial of red liquid. She placed it in front of him and said. "You didn't have the stock for superior or supreme so I made a greater."

He raised an eyebrow, and looked her over impressed he waved a hand over the potion, and his eyes went wide. "You're hired!" he said smiling. "You have no idea how bad we have needed someone who can make potions." He smiled and deflated a bit. "It has been so hard doing this all by myself."

"I know what you mean. That was basically my sole job where I came from." She smiled. "When do I start?"

"How about tomorrow?" He asked her with pleading eyes.

She nodded. "Sure. What time? Not dawn I hope?"

"Oh gods no!" he said in horror. "Eight is fine." he sighed, deflating a bit. "I need sleep."

She laughed. "Well, I'll see you then! Thank you."

"No. thank you!" he smiled at her. "I will see you tomorrow."

She looked at the clock and saw that there was plenty of time. She wanted to celebrate with Astero, but thought better of it, so she decided to wander the streets until it was time to pick up Jacob. She milled about aimlessly until she found a clothing store that caught her eye and spent a little bit more than she wanted to, to get everything she wanted. It was as she was walking out with arms laden full of bags that she rather gracelessly ran into a body. "Oh, I'm so sor- Oh, hey, As."

Astero shook his head a bit,and looked at the person who ran into them. "Oh, hey, Mag." He said putting on his best smile. "What are you up to?" He asked looking at the bags she was holding.

"Spontaneous shopping. I want my own clothes not my Mom's." She laughed.

"That makes sense." He chuckled at her. "I certainly hope you haven't forgotten about your brother." He said seriously.

"No. I was gonna go drop this off and pick him up before I literally bumped into you." She smiled. "Anyway, I'm sure you're busy. I'll let you get going."

"Good." He smiled back. "Yeah, looking for a job. Just started, so it might be the rest of the day before I find one." He chuckled. "See ya tomorrow." He waved.

She waved. "Later."

Astero continued on a bit longer before letting out a sigh of relief. He had only been awake for less than an hour, and he had already ran into the one who he had been thinking of all night long. He shook his head, and continued forward. He needed to find a job, sooner rather than later. He walked around town aimlessly for a bit, not really sure what type of job he was looking for. He thought about being a guard, but thought that all the traingand work, would drag him down quickly. He then saw an offering for a bodyguard, but knew it would have similar issues.

He sighed deeply, and went to go get some food, it was lunchtime afterall. He walked into a small shop, and ordered a sandwich. He sat down, and waited for a moment. When the sandwich arrived he thanked the woman, and took a bite, only to spit it out a moment later. He looked into the sandwich and saw that the bread wasn't done. He stood up, and marched to the counter, sandwich in hand. "Excuse me. But who is the one who made this?" He asked as nice as he could.

The woman who brought the sandwich went into the back, and brought out an older man. "Hello?" he asked gruffly.

"Yeah, hi. Were you the one who made this?" He asked pointing to the plate.

The man nodded. "Yeah. Why do you have a problem with it?" he said staring daggers at the man.

"Yes I do." He said staring back threateningly.

"And what is that?" the older man asked, looking over the young man who seemed unfazed by his attitude.

"Your bread isn't fully cooked. And i am pretty sure your cheese is going to expire soon as well." Astero replied seriously.

The man scoffed. "Well if you don't like it. Why don't you go in there and make it yourself?" He said standing to the side offering him entrance.

Astero smirked, and nodded. "Okay." he said walking past the man and going into the kitchen. He quickly looked around and saw that the place was not in the best shape, but it was at least clean. He quickly moved to find a few simple ingredients, and any bread that was actually cooked. Thankfully there was one, in short order the kitchen had some pleasant smells coming from it and Astero walked out with a sandwich. He sat down at the table, and took a bite. "Much better." He smiled at the old man. "Thanks for the offer."

The man and woman simply stood there, shocked by his quick skills. The man walked up and sat across from Astero. "Where did you learn to cook?" he asked him seriously.

"Self taught, mostly." he said between bites. "Had a few people teach me a thing or two around a kitchen." he said looking at the man with a smile.

The man looked to astero then to the woman. "Grace, I think we found someone." He chuckled.

"Yup." The woman smiled. "He is pretty good."

Astero set down his sandwich, and looked over the two curiously. "Found someone for what?" he asked seriously, setting his hand on his dagger.

The man shook his head. "No! Nothing like that!" he nearly yelled. "Kid, I am 78. I am not fit to run a place like this. I want to. But I just can't keep up." He sighed. "Would you be willing to work here?" He asked astero seriously. "Pay is good, and the better you make the food, the more people come in. so really the harder you work the more you make." He said honestly.

Astero blinked for a moment he hadn't thought about being a cook. He already liked doing it, so it would be just another day for him. "Yeah… I think I would." He smiled.

The old man held out a hand to shake his. "Then welcome aboard." he said with a smile. "When can you start?" he asked eager to see what he was capable of.

"How about the day after tomorrow?" he asked him. "I have some previous arrangements, and will be busy then." Astero smiled, not telling the whole truth.

"That will work perfectly." The man smiled. "And what is your name boy?" he asked.

"Astero." He said in response. "And your name?" he asked back.

"Call me Gordan." He smiled back. "I will see you then Astero." he said walking into the back.

Astero smiled and made his leave, leaving his sandwich behind. He smiled as he walked, he found a job! He made his way back to The Rook, and began to start training for tomorrow. He had a big day ahead of him.

Magdiana picked up a very excited Jacob from school, and he bounced his way home as she answered the safe to answer questions he asked. When they made it to the house, she asked. "Do you have homework?"

Jacob frowned a bit. "Yeah... I have elvish homework." he sighed moving to go get his papers from his bag.

"Don't make that face. You're part elf. It's important to learn the language. You know how many people just randomly speak to me in elvish because I've got pointy ears?" She laughed.

"How many?" Jacob smiled, looking over her curiously.

"Well, I didn't count, but it was like a bazillion." She made a funny face and put his pencil in his hand. "I'm going to get changed. When I come back, I'll check your work."

He sighed a bit, but nodded. "Okay. I will make sure to get as much right as possible." He smiled, starting to work on his papers.

Magdiana unloaded her bags and changed into a new set of clothes. These ones actually fit properly, were her style, and also were appropriate for the weather. When she came back out, Jacob was finishing his homework with one final flourish of the writing utensil. "Done?" She asked.

"Yeah, or I think so…" he said looking at the page. "I think I might have messed up on a few questions, but I am not sure where." he looked up to his sister now. "Could you help me?" He asked her.

"Of course." She glanced at the page, sitting down next to him. She pointed at one place. "Right here. The word is one letter off. Instead of saying dog, you said wolf. Big difference."

"Oh!" he said seeing his mistake. He quickly fixed it and checked the rest. "Okay now I think I am done." he smiled at her, and handed her the paper to check.

She looked at it. "One more thing."

"Where?" he asked looking over the paper curiously.

"You need to put your name on it, knucklehead." She laughed.

Jacob blushed, and quickly wrote his name on the paper. Once he was done he took it to his bag and put it inside and ran back. He looked around for any signs of his mom, before he looked up at his big sister. "Daggers now?" He asked her with pleading eyes.

"Yeah." She half-sighed. "But, we're going over safety stuff first, so don't get your hopes too high."

Jacob nodded, and sat down to listen intently to what she was about to say.

She stood up. "I know you want to see, so let's go out back. We'll walk and talk. First things first, you never point a weapon at something you don't want to hurt, maim, or kill."

He stood up and followed her. "Okay. Don't point a weapon at someone I don't want to hurt." He said, repeating it back.

"Next, if you want your weapon to do its job properly every time, you have to take care of it. A dull dagger… or any weapon for that matter… is a useless dagger." She kept going as she spoke. "Dad said you've been back here, right?"

He nodded at her words, but was repeating what she said. "Take care of the weapon, a dull dagger is a useless dagger." He said muttering to himself.

She got him to the clearing and sat down in the center of it. She took out two of her daggers. "So, before you can get to this," She threw the dagger at a target, hitting the bullseye without looking. "You have to do this." Now, she showed him the many different grips one could hold a dagger with.

Jacob watched intently, as she held the dagger in many different ways. It looked liked he was trying to memorize each one, but was having trouble.

"You don't have to worry about all of them. Everyone has a preference. I hold mine like this." She changed her grip. "But, Dad holds his like this." She changed it again. "And, my friend Astero holds it like this."

"How will I know which one is best for me?" He asked her, not sure which one he should use.

She placed the dagger perfectly balanced on a finger in front of her. "Pick it up."

Jacobs hand trembled a bit as he gingerly grabbed the blade from her hand. He carefully looked it over with wide eyes. He then began to slowly move the dagger into one of the different positions, before switching again. He did this for a few minutes, before he finally settled on one he thought he felt was comfortable. "Okay." He nodded, looking intently at his sister.

She grabbed her dagger the way he held his. "Take a step back and feel how it's an extension of your arm and hand. Get nice and comfortable."

He did as he was told, and stepped back. He then began to slowly move the dagger around himself, getting used to the weight more than anything else. He slowly began to move a bit faster, and looked to his sister. "Okay. I think I am ready for the next bit."

Magdiana opened her mouth to speak, but she heard a twig snap nearby. Without thinking, she let loose two daggers in surprise, and, in her moment of defensive protective instinct, one of the daggers lit up with a golden hue. A moment later, she heard the sound of metal greeting flesh. She stepped in front of Jacob.

A moment later, Marius took a step out from behind the bushes. He held his side, and had the dagger in the other hand. "Nice shot." He grunted.

"Dad!" Magdiana gasped, running over to him. "Are you okay?" She asked, grabbing onto him for support.

"Oh yeah, im fine. Getting stabbed is my most favorite hobby." He said sarcastically, sitting down on a nearby log. He saw Jacob looking pale as a ghost, and quickly healed himself. "Don't worry buddy. I'm fine. Your sister only scratched me is all." He smiled at his son.

Magdiana looked at the location of the former wound and the amount of blood and winced. That was not a scratch. "Maybe we should be done for the night. Also, don't surprise the rogue."

"I was trying to." Marius said to her, standing up. "I was just walking." he said honestly. "Also, let's not tell mom." He sighed. "She will kill me if she finds out."

"Mom is weird like that." She laughed, turning to Jacob. "We were building up to a dagger throw."

"Uh yeah." He said quietly, following behind his sister at a distance.

She lined him up with a target that was about the right height for him, and showed him the form for throwing a dagger that would be best for him. Once she'd helped him line up properly, she stepped back. "Whenever you're ready."

Jacob nervously looked at his sister and dad. He looked to the target, and took a few deep breaths. He did a few practice swings, before he finally threw the dagger. It flew threw the air straight as an arrow, but it didn't have enough power behind it, and fell short about two feet. Jacob hung his head, and sniffled, before he began to cry, and then he rab to the house as fast as he could. Not wanting to look at his sister.

"Well, we're related alright." She commented, retrieving her weapons from the clearing. "I still have a power problem on the last throw. He just needs to get there."

Marius sighed and looked at her. "He is sad because he thinks you hate him now." He sighed shaking his head. "He was just so really looking forward to having a sister that he didn't want to disappoint you. He heard a few things from Wake, and was starting to think that you were just impossible to look up to." he said walking up to Magdiana. "He will be fine, we both know this. But he needs to hear from you that you aren't mad at him. Okay?"

"How could I even be mad? That was really good form for his age. It just needed more oomph." She commented. After a moment, she sighed. "I'll talk to him."

"Good." he smiled at her. "And yeah it was good, he has a good teacher. He is just a lot like me, he likes instant gratification, and he tries to make sure he gets everything right the first time. He has trouble with failure." He sighed.

She smirked. "The rogue life is failure. Well, until it isn't anymore."

"Yeah, I have met a few in my day." he chuckled, before he held his side again. "Sweet merciful Mask, that hurts. Good job on the smite." He said holding his side for a minute, and casting another healing spell.

"It doesn't help that I probably knicked an organ." She commented, touching his arm and using her own healing. "Sorry."

He chuckled at her. "You are just like your mother. Knocking the exact whereabout of organs, and then healing them." he said feeling much better. "Thank you." He said rubbing her cheek. "Now go apologize to your brother before Eri finds out." He said standing up.

She winced. "Fuck." She muttered before running off to catch Jacob. She finally found him in his room, crying into his pillow. "Hey, bro." She started.

Jacob looked up to her with red eyes, and then leaned back into the pillow to cry again. "I'm sorry, I am a bad brother." He said muffled.

She sat down in bed next to him. "Why do you think that, silly? For throwing a dagger the same as everyone does on their first try?"

"For not hitting the target like you." He sniffled.

"Jacob," She started, taking a minute to choose her words. "It took me years of practice to get to where I am, and I promise you that I threw my first dagger the very same way that you did."

He looked up to her now. "Really?" he asked with wet eyes and a running nose.

"Really. In fact, I still have that problem." She told him. "I have fourteen daggers on me, and, every time I throw them all, one bounces right off the target."

Jacob looked a little confused at her. "Do you know why?" he asked her curiously.

"I do, but it's a bad habit that takes years sometimes to fix. I still have a ways to go to fix it." She assured him.

"So, you think I will be able to do that one day too?" He asked her, his eyes not as red now.

She nodded. "That all depends on you. You might decide you like swords better."

He looked up at her for a moment, and wiped his face clean. "Will you keep teaching me?" he asked her smiling slightly.

"Of course, I will." She nudged him. "I would've kept teaching you today if you'd have let me, you goober."

He gave her a big hug, squeezing her tightly. "Thank you." He whispered into her.

She hugged him back. "You're welcome. Now, I can smell dinner. You should get cleaned up because I'm starving and have to be up before dawn tomorrow."

Jacob smiled and nodded, moving to the bathroom to wash up for dinner.

Magdiana ruffled her brothers hair, washing her hands and joining the family for dinner. She sat down and smiled. "I got the job."

Marius came into the room wearing a new shirt. "Good job!" he smiled at her.

Eri placed trays of food on the table and sat herself down. "That's great." She said, grabbing Jacob's b plate and loading it with a bit of everything. "I want to see you eat at least three bites of the veggies." She warned.

Jacob sighed and looked at his mom. "Fine." He said playing with a piece of broccoli with a fork, before taking a bite and frowning at the taste.

Magdiana giggled. "Bro, if you don't eat veggies, you're gonna wind up skinnier than me. You can't fight like that. You know how hard it is, being so small and trying to take down an opponent bigger than you?"

Jacob looked at his sister, and then to the veggies, he made a face, and began to start eating them with a newfound vigor.

Eri looked at Magdiana in awe. "I have been trying to get him to eat them for years! And you get him to do it in three days!" She gave her a hug. "You are an angel." She smiled at her.

"Hey, I'm only telling the truth. I have a really hard time with take downs. To get Astero off his feet, I had to learn some serious acrobatics." She smiled. "I'll show you sometime."

"That would be cool!" Jacob enthused. "And who is Astero?" he asked her curiously.

"Astero is my friend from Yutan who came here with me, but I'll show you on Dad when he's up for being tossed around by a girl." She laughed.

Marius didn't say anything for a minute and simply looked at Eri. "I already get enough of that. I will pass." He chuckled.

"Marius!" Eri exclaimed turning red in the process. She calmly turned to magdiana. "You have my full permission to throw him across the house if you want." She smirked.

Magdiana smiled. "Maybe the yard, but not the house."

"Do it! Do it! Do It!" jacob said, looking at as his sister intently.

Marius placed his head in his hands and sighed. "Today is just not my day." He mumbled from behind his hands.

"You brought this upon yourself dear." Eri said with a threatening look. "Really it's like you like this stuff." she shrugged.

"Maybe before dinner tomorrow. I don't want you to hurl." Magdiana laughed.

Marius looked at Magdiana quizzically. "How far can you throw a person?" He asked seriously.

"You? I don't know… Somewhere in the five to ten foot range, maybe? Astero's a bit burlier." She shrugged.

"Great… My daughter is basically a one person army." he sighed deeply.

She shook her head. "You could beat me. That's not an army."

"I give you a year then. Two tops. If you are training with Wake, he will make damn sure that you will be able to beat me." Marius deadpanned.

"I mean, I'm not trying to be stronger than you, but, yeah, I'm not going to stop training." She told him.

"I figured as much." he chuckled at her. "Just like your mom." He said looking to his wife.

Eri looked back at Marius and shook her head. "I still haven't heard a sorry from you. And you will want to make it quick, especially if Mag and myself are going to be out of here before you two." She said looking at the clock.

Marius sighed, and leaned over to give her a kiss. "Im sorry, I say private things." He whispered to her.

"Good." Eri smiled at him, before looking to magdiana. "Are you ready for tomorrow?" She asked seriously.

"As ready as I'm going to get." She said honestly. "Just need a good night's sleep."

Eri nodded at her. "Good." She said with a smile. "Now if you will excuse me, I will be heading to bed early. Need to make sure I have my things, before I go for my 'jog'." she smiled, leaving the room and disappearing for the night.

Magdiana nodded as well. "Basically the same. Night Jacob… enjoy the dog house, Dad."

"Night!" Jacob smiled.

"Night." Marius sighed, but gave her a small smile. "Hope everything goes well for you tomorrow."

"Thanks. Have a good day." She stalked off to bed with a yawn.

Marius waved her off and enjoyed the remains of dinner with Jacob. When they were both finished, Marius took their plates and quietly did the dishes. Once those were done, he brought jacob to bed and tucked him in. When he got to the bedroom, he saw Eri getting the last of her things together, before lying down in bed. He laid down next to her, and gave her a light kiss on the head. "Goodnight dear, sleep well. Please don't sink wakes ship." He said moving under the blanket and reading a book.

"Don't worry. I won't." she yawned. "more worried about Mags friend. Hope that goes well." She said closing her eyes.

"It will." He said softly to her.

"Thank you." She mumbled. Quickly falling asleep.

Astero trained throughout the night, and he knew he was going to regret the fight. He wanted to get some sleep, but his mind had been racing. He wasn't sure of what Wake was capable of, but he knew it was going to suck. He was excited about the fight and the prospect of getting stronger, but he was also nervous. He had fought against Magdiana for decades, but never with her. And with what they had talked about the other night, he was hoping all was going to work out well in the end. He was also really excited about the new job, it would give him the chance to cook and bake more often, and he was getting paid to do it. It was a win win for him.

He eventually got dressed, and made his way down and out of the rook. He walked for several minutes and waited by the ship for Magdiana. He was in no real rush, he was just ancy. And the sooner the fight came the better. A few short moments later, Astero saw wake approaching the ship. "I thought for sure you would be on here waiting for us already." He said looking a little annoyed.

"What? You think just because I don't sleep, I won't spend a night with my wife?" He asked back to him, stopping just short of the gangplank. "And where is your other half?" he asked again looking around for Magdiana.

"Sorry. I keep forgetting your married." Astero sighed. "She is probably still asleep, or at the very least, waking up."

"Hi." Magdiana said directly into his ear.

Astero jumped, and almost fell into the water, before he caught himself. He breathed heavily for a moment before looking her over. "Or... she is trying to give me a heart attack!" He exclaimed, looking at her intently.

"I couldn't help myself." She laughed. "It was kind of perfect."

"Of course, you would do that." Astero sighed, and stood up, regaining his composure. "Well. here we are." He said to Wake, looking at magdiana as he did so.

"Yep." She nodded. "Ready to get my ass kicked and then go to work."

Astero nodded. "Same, but i work tomorrow. Figured I would need the rest." He chuckled at Wake.

Wake chuckled at the two of them, and walked up onto the ship. He turned around and looked at them. "Alright then, I will make the rules transparently clear. Once I get to the helm of the ship, you two can use any and all means to get to me. The second one of you hits me, training is over for the day. Just know, I will try to keep you at bay. And if you get in close to me. I will not hesitate to knock your asses off of my ship." He deadpanned. "Do I make myself clear?" He said looking the two of them over intently.

"Yes, sir." Astero said, summoning his greatsword.

"Yes, sir." Magdiana replied, looking at Astero and quietly muttering. "Game plan?"

"No clue, let's see what he can do first and go from there." He quietly replied back.

Wake chuckled at their plan, and looked the two of them over. "Go." He said, vanishing into a cloud of mist and appearing at the helm, leaning against it. "Well… I'm waiting."

Astero grunted, and began to walk onto the ship, sword still drawn. He looked around carefully, before he began to charge to Wake. after just a step of his foot, the rigging coiled itself around his leg and dragged him back to the gangplank. "Fuck." He sighed, forgetting about the spell on the ship.

"Dude, we've gotta work together or we're screwed." She said, walking onto the ship. "We know all of each other's moves. We just have to figure out how to-. Ahh!" She was suddenly thrown from the ship, being thrown directly into Astero.

"I know that. I was trying to be a distraction, while you throw a dagger at him." He said pushing her off of him. He stood up and looked around to see all the rigging now moving, it was a terrifying thing to see. He shivered a bit, and helped Mag to her feet. "Okay I go right you go left. Deal?" He asked her. Keeping his eyes on the Captain.

"Deal." She muttered, running onto the ship and taking a sharp left. She rolled out of the way of some ropes, and saw out of the corner of her eye Astero cutting it. That was actually a really good idea. She took out two of her daggers and slashed at any rope that got in her way. It was when a mop bucket and the mop started chasing her that she lost it, being thrown from the ship and landing flat on her back.

As Astero saw Mag go flying through the air, he saw that they were nowhere close to Wake. he sighed, and cast fire bolt, sending a Mote of fire at the captain. Wake waved a hand and a familiar aura of force interrupted the blast, sending it off into the distance. "Really?" He sighed at Wake.

"Yes. really." Wake grinned back, before pointing a finger at Astero. Four blasts of eldritch power came shooting out, all of which hit Astero and knocked him on his ass next to Magdiana.

"As?" Magdiana asked, getting up.

"Yeah?" He said grunting and getting to his feet.

She looked at him critically. "Do you need healing?" She asked before adding. "And, do you think we can both get in front of the captain's quarters?"

" he looked at the captains quarters, and looked back at her. "Yes, and yes. What do you have in mind?" He asked her, wiping away a bit of blood.

She grabbed his arm and healed him quickly. "Get there. You duck. I jump up to where he is."

He nodded, and quickly dashed to the area. He dodged the ropes and rigging, and put his back to the captain's door. He waited for her to make her move, nodding at her when he was ready.

She dashed after him, feeling badly as she used him as a platform to jump up to the helm, and, just as she was throwing her dagger at Wake, he summoned a sword out of nowhere, knocking the dagger away and, then striking her down onto the deck. "Fuck." She said, bleeding and clutching the wound.

Astero looked at her, and looked up to wake. "Mag are you going to be okay?" He asked, trying to think of a way around all of this. "Also how many daggers do you have left?" He said looking at her. "I think, I might have a plan."

"Have only thrown the one " She said, healing herself and standing up. "Tell me."

"Well that spell he hit me with was eldritch blast. Which only one caster gets, warlock." he smiled at her. "He doesn't have many spell slots to use. We just need to keep making him use them." he leaned in close to her. "You go and get into position and I will distract him. Okay?" He said looking to see if Wake was watching. "Just do your 'blade lotus thing' and you are sure to him at least once." He said taking a few steps to the corner, before yelling and charging towards Wake.

"Son of a bitch." Magdiana muttered, quickly darting into position. She saw only one problem with his plan. If she couldn't make a hit, she'd be without any weapons for the rest of the fight. She waited until Astero started to make his move before dashing closer and throwing all of her daggers. She almost couldn't look to see if it worked.

Wake watched as Astero ran head first at him, and sighed. "Your not going to hit me." He said pointing a finger at him, and releasing the blasts again, launching him up and off of the ship and into the water. He then looked to see where Magdiana was and saw her jump up into the air. And throw all of the daggers on her person at him. He quickly waved his hand before the first dagger met, and the spell caused several of them to miss or bounce off of him. There was one problem however, there were too many of them. As the daggers hit each one would get closer and closer, until the final one finally hit is mark, getting him in the arm. Wake winced and gave a smile. "Good job. You completed the first day of training." He yelled out to them.

"Yay." Astero said, laying backwards in the water by the ship.

"Why do I get the sense that the next training is going to involve large explosions?" Magdiana asked with a small victorious smile.

"Oh no. Not yet." He smirked at her. "There is a ways to go before we get to those." He chuckled. "I still want to be able to actually try." He said with a toothy grin. He waved his hand, and the rigging moved to go and pick Astero out of the water. Setting him on the deck of the ship.

"Thanks." He said blowing some wet hair out of his face.

"Your welcome, you did beat the first trial after all." Wake smiled.

"If that was you not trying, I'd hate to be the idiot that tries to fuck with your ship." She commented, looking at a still bleeding Astero and her own wounds. "I don't have enough healing for both of us."

Astero looked to her, and nodded. "I figured as much. That's why I said I would go into work tomorrow." He chuckled, standing up and grunting as he did so. "Did you know water hurts when you hit it from 30 feet up?" He said holding his back.

She sighed, healing herself instead of him, "Didn't know, but could've made an educated guess. Can you prestidigitate these clothes, please? There's blood all over them now."

"Yeah give me a second." astero replied drying himself off first and then doing them same to her. "Better?" He asked her, seeing the blood disappear.

"Much, thank you." She said, looking to Wake. "You're probably not in port for much longer, huh? Work and all that."

Wake nodded at her. "Yeah, it will be a few days before I am back again. So I expect you two, to work together more often while I am gone." he said pointing a finger at the two of them. "Put a puzzle together, play games, something to help you two comunicate. They weren't much during all of that." He sighed a bit.

"We are better than it was… a month ago." She defended their honor.

"I don't doubt that." he said honestly. "I just want to see it be better by the time I get back." he smiled and took a few steps forward. "Now, go and get to work, or whatever you plan on doing." he said as the rigging brought Magdianas daggers back. "The crew will be here soon and we are leaving by the end of the day." he said waving them off.

Astero sighed, and limped off of the ship. "Fine, clearly you have more pressing issues." He chuckled shaking his head. As he turned he ran into someone, and looked up to see a half-elven woman. "Oh, sorry ma'am, didn't see you there." He said trying to move around but getting stopped.

Eri looked over Astero and quickly healed him up. "There you go. Do you feel better?" she asked him with a smile.

"Uh… yeah. Thank you. But why heal me?" He asked her curiously not knowing the woman was Magdiana's mother.

"Well I was just on my morning jog, and happened to see a fight occur. It would be wrong of me not to heal those who are wounded." She smiled at Astero, before walking up to Magdiana, and healing her as well. "Isn't that right dear?" She smiled at her daughter.

Magdiana nodded. "I would do the same, if I could."

"You will in time." She smiled, before turning back to Astero. "So… you must be Astero." she said inspecting the young man.

Astero raised an eyebrow at her and then at magdiana. "Yes Ma'am. And you are?" he said putting a hand forward.

"My name is Eri. I am Magdiana's mother." She smiled gripping Asteros hand firmly. "Pleased to meet you." she smiled.

Astero sighed a bit and shook her hand back. "You as well."

"I didn't know that your morning run brought you past the docks, mom." Magdiana lied smoothly.

"Yeah, I like to smell the breeze, in the morning. Really wakes you up. You know?" She smiled at Astero.

"Yeah. I know the feeling." Astero replied, looking more awkward now than when he had arrived.

Wake looked at Eri and then to the kids. He knew damn well what was happening. "Well i'm glad you were around while you were Eri, these two ruffians needed some training. I might have roughed them up a bit." He chuckled at the woman.

Eri looked at wake with fire in her eyes. "Yeah good thing. Huh, Wake?" She threatened.

Wake looked a little pale. "Uh yeah, thanks for being here… any ways we are going to be leaving soon, so please leave." He said quietly.

"Of course." she smiled and put an arm around Magdiana. "Let's go dear." She smiled before looking at Astero. "Come on. I want to learn more about my daughters friend." She smiled at him.

"Alright, but I've got work at eight." Magdiana responded, following along. She wasn't expecting this, but she'd go along with it. "I really want to see you fight Wake now." She said lowly.

Astero looked at Magdiana, and then looked to her mother. "You can fight?" He asked her curiously.

Eri chuckled. "Yes, and I am pretty good at it too."

He looked over her for a moment, and thought. "I'm guessing you are cleric, so healing would be top priority. But not really seeing the fighting bit." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I'm a shit cleric, so don't base anything you know off of what I can do." Magdiana laughed. "Apparently, she's beaten Wake before."

"Yes, I have. And not all clerics are healers, just so you know." she chuckled. "There are many domains to being a cleric, each one is different." She explained to the both of them.

"Yeah. I'll still figuring that out. I accidentally busted out a smite yesterday." She admitted, realizing she probably shouldn't have.

Eri and astero looked to Magdiana and spoke in unison. "When?" they said shocked.

"Uh… yesterday afternoon." She answered honestly, and vaguely.

Eri thought for a moment and sighed. "It was after jacob got home… wasn't it?" She facepalmed.

Magdiana sighed. "Dad scared me."

"Of course he did." Eri sighed, and looked to astero. "Please be careful around her. She is still getting used to all of this." She apologised in advance for her daughter.

Astero smiled at Eri. "Don't worry. She doesn't scare me." he chuckled.

"Good." She smiled at him. "I'm glad she has a friend like you then."

"Thank you." Astero said a little confused, but smiled at her regardless.

"I'm glad someone's not scared of me." Magdiana admitted. "Even I'm scaring myself lately."

Astero looked at her. "I know what you are capable of. This will be easy for you." He said honestly to her.

She nodded. "Thanks. It doesn't feel that way right now, but I appreciate it."

Eri smiled at her. "You will be fine sweetie." she smiled at her, before turning to Astero. "So, how long have you been friends with her?" she asked him, knowing very little about the boy.

"Oh. We have known each other for decades, but only recently, have we actually had the chance to hang out." He told her honestly.

"I heard." She frowned a bit. "Just know what happened in yutan, won't happen here." She said comfortingly. "Asesh is a different place entirely."

"Yeah, with warm water." He chuckled. "Would have stayed in the water for longer if wake didn't pull me out." He smiled.

"I'm really excited to swim on purpose for once." Magdiana said, shivering as she remembered a couple of incidents with frozen over lakes that she'd been lucky to escape from.

"Don't worry." Astero replied. "It is nice." he sighed, before realizing he had the day off. "Actually, I will probably do that later." He said thinking to himself.

Magdiana frowned a bit. "I'm jealous, but I'm also working today. Money is nice." She ended with a chuckle.

"Yeah. I start tomorrow. Where are you working?" He asked her curiously.

Magdiana pointed, "The herbal remedies shop down that way. Kinda stuck with what I know. You?"

He smiled a bit. "I will be a cook, at a small place down that way." He said pointing off into the distance. "They seem like nice people."

"Well, I know where to go for lunch, then." She smiled. "I won't order anything with peanuts. Promise. Oh! By the way…" She tossed him a small pouch. "That's the stuff you need in case you have a reaction. Chew on it and hold it under your tongue. If it doesn't get better, get a cleric… let me rephrase. Get a better cleric."

He smiled and put the pouch away. "Thank you." He smiled at her. "That means a lot. And if that does happen, could you help with that?" He asked Eri.

Eri laughed. "Of course dear, just come by the house if you can. I will be there… do you know where the house is?" She asked him.

Astero nodded. "Yeah. I am pretty sure I saw it." He replied.

"Yeah, we went on a walk and passed right by it." Magdiana smiled. "It's the one with all the flowers, and, thankfully, no lavenders."

Eri looked to Magdiana. "I never planted any, because I'm allergic to them." She told her. "I'm guessing you are too." She frowned a bit.

"It's not the 'could kill me' type of allergy, but very, very uncomfortable if I touch or smell it too closely." Magdiana shrugged. "Now, I know where that comes from."

"Yes, it is the same for me." Eri chuckled, before looking to Astero. "So, i guess you like to cook then? Given your job?" She asked him

He nodded. "Yeah it is a fun hobby, where I get to eat my work… and sometimes mistakes too." He chuckled.

"It's only fun if your mistakes are still tasty." Magdiana laughed. "Some of my mistakes… we do not speak of."

"That 's why I said 'sometimes'." He chuckled. "It only took me one time, to mistake sugar and salt." He laughed.

"Eugh." She shuddered. "Oh, no, As…"

"Yeah…" he sighed. "Those were the worst donuts ever."

Eri shivered. "Well, I am glad you learned from it." She chuckled.

"Yeah. Started labeling everything." He laughed.

Magdiana nodded. "I think I remember that. I was wondering why all the things in your kitchen suddenly had labels… I mean… I was never in your house. Why are you asking?" She smirked innocently.

Astero sighed. "Figures you would have. Which would also explain why the paprika, and chili powder were switched… you bitch." He said shaking his head.

"You lived, didn't you?" She asked before sighing. "Okay, what did I fuck up?"

"It was the spiciest roast chicken I have ever made." He chuckled.

"Damn. I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to go ham on the stuff." She laughed.

"I didn't… it was really spicy chili powder." He said seriously.

She raised her hands in surrender. "Hey, I said I'm sorry. Do you want me to apologise to your digestive system too?"

He chuckled at her. "No. It's fine, like you said, I survived. Just don't do it again."

"Didn't plan on it. My breaking in and pranking days are over. Too many people here to catch me. Yutan was much smaller." She promised.

"Good." He smiled at her.

Eri looked at the two of them with a smile, and decided to leave them to their business. "Alright, i still need to finish this jog, and go clean up your brothers room. So i will see you for dinner later." She smiled and gave Magdiana a hug. "It was nice meeting you Astero."

"It was nice to meet you too." He smiled back.

"Sorry." Magdiana mumbled once her mother was out of earshot. "I shouldn't have…" She trailed off.

"Shouldn't have what?" He asked her curiously.

Magdiana frowned, blushing as well. "I told my parents I was fighting with Wake this morning.'

Astero sighed a bit, and looked her over. "We aren't hurt anymore. Right?" He said looking her over seriously.

"Yeah, but… I feel like I lied or something." She admitted.

"Then don't worry about it." He told her honestly. "If you didn't, you would go into work, and probably not do so well on your first day." He explained to her. "It was the right call."

"I would've done fine, but…" She sighed. "I was worried about you."

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why do you think I said I was starting work tomorrow?" he asked her rhetorically. "I knew I would be sore, so I thought ahead." He smiled.

"I didn't know that you were going to wait until tomorrow when I arranged it." She told him.

"Then stop apologizing then." he told her. "Everything is fine. Now go get to work." He laughed at her. "I have recipes I need to write down." He chuckled.

"Yeah, apparently, I'm potion lady now." She rolled her eyes. "I make those too, but not as well."

He chuckled at her. "You'll be fine." He smiled.

"Yeah. Thanks!" She smiled. "See ya, As." She ran off.

"Later Mag." He waved as she left, and began walking back to The Rook to start working on his recipes. He went up to his room briefly, before coming back down with a small cookbook, and sitting next to the kitchen door. He smelled the air, and jotted down some notes for a new idea. And repeated the process several times. Simply using what he saw, and smelled as a basis, and adjusting some existing recipes before he went to bed that night.

Magdiana's day was chaotic, but fulfilling. She did make two healing potions that day, but, then, she was asked to man the front. When it was her turn to do that, of course, there was a rush, and she wound up having to mix several cures on the fly for customers with specific needs beyond normal cures. All in all, she was happy, especially to have coin in her pocket, but exhausted. She went home and collapsed onto the couch where Jacob found her.

He leaned down close to her face. "Hey Sis. You okay?" He asked her curiously.

Magdiana stretched and sat up. "I'm fine. Just tired. What's up?"

He shook his head at her. "Nothing, I just wanted to make sure that you are okay." He smiled at her.

"Alright. I know I said that I'd try to throw Dad around tonight, but I'm a little sore. That okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. That's fine." He nodded and smiled before giving her a hug, and running off.

Magdiana closed her eyes and laid back down on the couch. She didn't even realize that she'd fallen asleep until she felt a pair of strong arms lift her up and lay her back down as she rested. She rolled over and fell back asleep almost immediately, sleeping through the night until the dawn.

Astero awoke bright and early, getting a light breakfast before he made his way to his new job. He waited outside the front door for about an hour, he wasn't exactly told when he was to arrive, so he just patiently waited. A little while later, Gordan arrived looking impressed at astero. "Well you are here early." He smiled at him, as he unlocked the door to let them in.

"I have been up for a while." Astero replied honestly. "Never really told me a time, so I just waited for you." he chuckled.

Gordan chuckled as well. "Yeah, I realized that after you left." He smiled. "Well no use in worrying about the past. Let's just get to it shall we?" He asked Astero.

"Sounds good." He said with a smile.

"Alright. I'm guessing you know how to make bread. So let's start with that." Gordan said simply.

Astero rolled up his sleeves and immediately got to work without a word. He began to get the ingredients, and begin making several batches of dough. Within the hour, the whole building smelled of fresh bread, and Astero walked to gordon. "Okay what do you need me to do next?" he asked.

Gordan was a bit shocked by his quickness, but was sure it was better than anything he could make. "Well I would get the rest of the ingredients prepped for the other meals people order." He chuckled.

"Is there a menu?" Astero asked in kind.

Gordan thought for a moment and shuffled off, coming back a few moments later with an old looking piece of paper. "It's a little outdated." He chuckled.

"Yeah… I can tell." He sighed deeply. He saw that there were no ingredients for some of the things on here. He looked up to Gordan. "It is okay if I make a few changes?" he asked.

"By all means, if it makes it easier on you, and money for us, im all in." He said honestly.

"Good to know." he smiled, and quickly got to work fixing the menu. Once he was done, he went into the back and began prepping the ingredients. When he was finished, Grace entered the building.

"Good morning!" She smiled happily at the two of them. "How are you two doing?" She asked.

Gordan smiled. "Well, and I think we are going to have a good day."

Astero nodded. "I'm doing well. Everything is prepped and ready to go." He smiled back.

"Then. Let's get started." She smiled, turning the sign to 'open'.

Astero nodded and went to the back. The day started off slow at first, but sped up, with people ordering seconds, and sometimes thirds. The day slowed down at around noon, and the three of them had time to relax for a moment. As they did so, Astero noticed a familiar face walk into the building. "Hey Mag. What are you doing here?" He asked her curiously.

"Actually, I'm here for lunch. I was so frazzled this morning, I forgot to pack it." She sighed. "I came home last night and slept for twelve hours without eating dinner." She looked at the menu before choosing something and ordering two. "I'm starved." She blushed.

Astero chuckled and walked into the back. "No worries. Give me just a minute." He said disappearing into the back, and reappearing a few minutes later. "Here you go. Enjoy." He said setting the large plate down in front of her.

"Thank you!" She called out to him, digging in and not speaking for several minutes. When she was finished, she rubbed her stomach uncomfortably full until she let out a belch. "Excuse me… I'm not even sorry. That was good shit."

"Compliments to the chef, as they say." Astero smiled. "Glad you liked it."

She smiled. "I'll definitely be back for another lunch break sometime. Thanks."

"Glad to hear it. Anytime!" Astero smiled, before moving into the back to continue cooking.

It took a few days for both friends to adjust to their new schedule before Magdiana felt alive enough one evening to drag herself to The Rook. She saw that Astero wasn't in the bar, so she simply walked up to his room, knocking on his door.

Astero opened the door, and smiled. "Hey, what's up?" He said, opening the door for her to come in.

She yawned. "Trying to follow Wakes orders and do team building. Also, trying to unfuck my sleep schedule. My job was never this exhausting in Yutan."

He nodded at her. "Yeah, I know the feeling. I am used to getting up early, but staying late sucks." He said letting out a yawn as well. "So what were you planning with this 'team building'?" He asked her, leaning against a small counter.

She pulled out a set of cards. "Wanna play rummy or something?"

He shrugged. "Okay, not very good at cards, so you will have to show me." He said moving to sit at a small table.

"Good. One day, you'll be showing me recipes." She smiled, entering the room and taking up residence on the floor. She groaned. "Fuck. I'm sore."

"That is why I sat down on a chair. You are going to have trouble getting up now." He chuckled.

"Fuck." She mumbled, crawling over to a chair and climbing into it. "I didn't even notice it."

"It's fine. I am just glad it is here. Almost got stuck on the floor the other day." He laughed.

"This chair is so nice… I might not make it out of here." She mumbled, shuffling the cards.

He heard that and shuffled a bit, focusing on the cards. "So what are we playing?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "Dunno. Poker, rummy, go fish, old maid. I'm not picky. You have a preference?"

"How about poker then? I at least know how to play that." He chuckled.

"Works for me." She dealt each of them five cards. "Five card draw. You can switch two of those… blah, blah."

He looked over the cards, and made a face. They weren't that great short of a pair of ten's. He put two down on the table, hoping to get lucky. "Two please."

She dealt him two, and looked at her cards, putting down two cards and drawing two more. "Is work and training starting to settle down for you yet?"

"Somewhat." He said honestly. "Work is fun, so I like doing it. Just not used to being on my feet all day. So training has been… limited." He sighed. "What about you?"

She sighed. "Work isn't so bad. It's way busier than I'm used to, but I've basically doubled my training because Jacob wants me to show him stuff every night."

Astero chuckled lightly. "I bet it's fun showing off though. Huh?" He smiled at her.

"A bit, but I'm in pain. And he's going to be terrifying one day." She whined. "Dad is pretty sure he's gonna get magic too, and he made a dagger stick into the target on his fifth try."

He sighed a bit, but smiled at her. "Nice, i'm glad things are going well for you." He said quickly glancing at his cards, and seeing he now had two pair.

"You have something decent, but I can't tell how good." She muttered, placing her cards down face up, revealing a low straight.

"Just two pairs." he said placing them down face up as well. "Of course you won." He sighed.

She made a face. "I can never remember which hands win."

"A straight, beats two pairs." He explained to her. "Still better than mine."

"Alright. Well, it's your deal, mister smarty pants." She said tiredly. "I wish I had your memory. Some stuff you retain is just, like… mind… blown to me."

He chuckled and shuffled the cards. "Partial eidetic memory." He said tapping his temple. "Really good at remembering something, but not others." He said dealing the cards out. "Really helped with learning spells."

"How many do you know?" She asked. "I think that I know two and a half now."

"Including cantrips? Six." He told her simply. "But I can only cast three of them a day." He sighed a bit. "I focused more on the fighting bit, than the casting bit."

"I understand." She said. "I think the cleric thing is different because I've seen my mom cast a couple different ones now… I'm still better at throwing a dagger than casting."

He looked over his cards before placing one down. "I think clerics have a different way they use and access their spells. Same with druids. Give it time though, you will be blowing shit up left right and center." He chuckled, taking a card.

She put down two cards and took two that he gave her. She looked at him. "What do I have? Something something team building."

He set his cards face down, and leaned in a bit to look deep into her eyes. "Hmmm. I see red… so either diamonds or hearts… maybe a pair?" He asked.

She whipped out a hand and popped the side of his head lightly. "That's cheating." She told him.

"Ow." He said rubbing his head lightly. "It's just a guess, besides, I have to get close to being able to do that. It's not like you wouldn't notice." He sighed, sitting back in his chair.

"We're supposed to be learning about working together or something. I'm not even trying to hide my tells at the moment." She told him before putting down her cards. "I had jack shit. Red colored."

He looked at her hand, and placed his hand down. Revealing three of kind. "Was going for a full house, but came up short." He sighed, handing her the cards. "I know, but I am bad at reading faces." He told her honestly. "Hearing tone shifts in voice, oh yeah, that I can do. But can't read a face, short of blatant emotions." He sighed.

"Huh. I guess that I never noticed that about you." She pondered aloud. She took the cards and started to shuffle, but she yawned again. "I'm sorry. Maybe, I should've waited until tomorrow. I'm so tired."

"It's fine, it just makes it hard to talk to people sometimes." He sighed, and looked at her. "If you want to go and get some sleep, I'm not going to stop you." He chuckled softly. "I'm pretty sure we have time before Wake gets back."

She yawned larger than before. "I don't know if I'll make it home. Maybe I'll go talk to Raze."

Astero saw how tired she was and let out a small sigh, she wasn't going to make it to the stairs, let alone to Raze. "Just stay here… it will save you money at least." He sighed softly and got up to get a spare blanket.

Her eyes grew heavy. "Thanks." She muttered quietly, curling up on the chair. "Night."

"Night." He quietly replied, placing the blanket over her. He waited for a bit until she was fast asleep, before he placed her on the bed. He then lied down on the floor. When he awoke he quickly got dressed and left to get to work.

Magdiana awoke at dawn with a giant crick in her neck. She stretched before her mind connected where she was. She glanced over to see Astero sleeping, but he looked like he was starting to stir. She sighed there was no getting out before he got up. She snuck into the bathroom and used the facilities before coming out to see Astero sitting up and stretching. "Good morning." She said quietly.

"Morning." He spoke, stretching and popping his back before sighing in relief. "How did you sleep?" He asked standing up.

"Surprisingly well." She said honestly. "Better than I have been."

"Good. it looked like you needed it." He replied with a smile. "Now, I will have to ask you to leave. I need to get ready for work." he chuckled.

"Shit. I've gotta get changed." She grumbled. "Guess I'm getting my run in the hard way this morning."

Astero chuckled. "You got this." He said opening the door for her.

She made a mad dash out of the room, running home and changing before running all the way back to work with enough time to spare to catch her breath. When her boss opened the door for her, she was still somewhat panting. "Hey, Charles."

"Hello, magdiana." he said eyeing her curiously. "Wake up late did we?" He asked her.

"Woke up at dawn like usual. Just a rough morning." She hedged, not wanting to go into details.

Charles looked at the clock, and then back to her. "So long as you arrive on time, I won't worry about it. Just try not to make it a regular occurrence. Okay?" he said stepping aside to let her in.

"No problem. What am I making today?" She asked seriously.

"I will have you take care of the remedies today, while I work on the potions." he explained to her.

"Sounds good. Just let me know if you need anything that does a little more damage." She offered not for the first time.

"If I get a request that asks for something like that. You will be the first to know." He chuckled, walking to the back to get started on the potions.

Magdiana sighed. If she knew anything about being a rogue, people didn't outright ask for what she was offering to make. Manning the front and using thieves cant would be her best option since she doubted her boss knew anything about such things.

Astero quickly changed into his work clothes and made his way into work. He went about getting everything set up and prepped for the day. A little while later Gordan entered, bringing Astero a cup of coffee, which he happily consumed. "Thank you. I needed that." He smiled at the older man.

"No problem." He smiled back. "You have been working hard, and this place has been picking up in the last few days. All thanks to you and your skills." He said gesturing to him.

"Thanks, it's nice to hear that." Astero smiled, as he sliced some vegetables for later.

Gordan raised an eyebrow at Astero. "Surely, your parents must be proud of you?" He asked not knowing much about the boy.

Astero sighed deeply, and cut himself a bit with the knife. "Fuck." He said in pain, before going to wash his hands. "Uh… no actually." he sighed. "They died when I was young." He said drying his hands.

Gordan frowned at that. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stir up any bad memories." He said quietly.

"It's fine." He shrugged it off, and gave the old man a smile. "I was seven. I don't remember much. And that was twenty years ago." he said putting a bandage on and going back to work.

Gordan nodded slightly, looking him over. "I understand. Just know that… everyone needs someone to talk to." He told him seriously.

Astero was going to reply, but Grace walked into the door. She greeted the two and began to turn the signs around. Gordan and Astero gave each other a nod, and got back to work. Working hard as the customers came and went. By the time the day was done, Astero was sore but overall happy. He had a few leftovers from the day to bring home for his dinner, and was looking forward to it. On his way back Astero accidently ran into an older human man with a ragged coat. "Oh sorry sir. Didn't mean to do that." He said with a slight frown.

The man looked him over for a long moment and gave him a smile. "No… no, don't worry about it. The fault was mine." He said turning and walking off. "Enjoy your dinner!" He said waving as he left.

Astero waved back, and turned to continue walking for all but a moment when he realized he never said that. He turned around and looked back to see no one there. "What the fuck?" He said out loud. He quickly made his way back to The Rook, and beelined for his room. He looked over the things in his bags, and saw that an envelope was inside one of them. He looked around the room curiously, he knew he was alone, but this was odd. He opened the letter nervously.

"Dear Astero,

It has been many years since we last saw each other, and I wish it was under better circumstances that we did. However, that is the past, and it cannot be changed. I am glad that you have gotten out of Yutan, and that shithole Evermore. There is a much bigger and more vibrant world to see other than just snow. You are probably wondering how I know all of this, and well family needs to stick together.

It will be a while before I contact you again, so just know that I will be close, I always have been. And also know that the ones who you call friends CANNOT be trusted. You need to fight for the side of life. For now learn their weaknesses, and keep doing what you are doing.

Love you always,

Your Brother,

Rivin."

Astero dropped the letter and sat against the wall of his room shaking uncontrollably. "What. The. Fuck."


	6. Bind

Astero took the letter and hid it in his bag. He didn't want to look at it anymore. He was shaking in anxiousness. He sat on his bed, before he ran to the bathroom to vomit, his stomach getting the better of him. He relaxed against the cold floor of the bathroom, and breathed deeply. He had no idea who he could trust right now, nor did he even remember having a brother. He sat up and looked around, he needed some form of grounding at the moment. He was on the verge of a panic attack, and he was only just holding himself together.

Magdiana knocked on Astero's door. It had been a long day, but she was much more awake this afternoon than she had been yesterday, and she'd brought a puzzle today. She made a face when there was no response. She knocked harder. "Hey, As?"

Astero jumped when he heard Mags voice. He stood up, and took a few steps before stopping and remembering the letter. He leaned against the door. "Are… are you by yourself?" He asked both nervously and quietly.

"As, you're making me nervous. Are you okay?" She asked back quietly through the door. "I'm alone."

He nervously opened the door before pulling her in quickly and locking the door behind her. He sat against the door and shook his head. "No… nothing is alright." He said moving to the bathroom to vomit again.

Magdiana watched him for a minute before fiddling with a small pouch, taking out a bit of green stuff and handing it to him. "Chew this slowly." She ordered.

Astero looked up to her and nodded. He grabbed the herbs, and began to slowly chew them for a minute. He let out a sigh of relief as he felt a bit better. "Thank you." He sighed.

"You're welcome." She watched him carefully. "You don't look sick. What happened?"

He looked up to her, and shook his head. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure myself… But at the same time, I don't know if I can tell you…" He said trailing off for a moment, before looking at her again. "I need to ask you a question… and it is going to sound awful. So i am sorry in advance… Do your parents feel like they are your parents?" He asked her bluntly, nervous as he spoke.

Magdiana hummed for a minute. "Oh. We're back on the Yutan woowoo shit. Aren't we?"

"Mag. I'm serious." He deadpanned.

"Honestly?" She asked. "I think so. More than the ones in Yutan…" Her voice broke and her eyes watered. She was so confused.

He stood up and got the letter, handing it to her. "I ran into a guy on my way home from work… he told to 'have a nice dinner'. I never said anything like that to him. And when I got here that was in one of my bags." He explained to her, sitting down on the floor now. "And now i have no clue what is going on."

She sat down next to him and read the letter. Her lips pursed. She looked at him. "Burn it. We can't trust this to not be scryed on."

He took the letter and shook his head. "I don't think I can do that… It said it's from my brother… Mag do you have any recollection of me having any siblings?" He asked her.

"No, As, but what I know right now is that we can trust each other and this stupid paper told you not to trust even me. Astero, I have known you forever. I escaped with you. If you can't fucking trust me, then who can you trust?" Tears were streaming down her eyes as she looked at him. "Burn it."

He looked at her, and down at the letter. His face looked angry, and he threw it, before casting fire bolt and setting it ablaze, it turning to ashes before it hit the ground. He covered his face and cried.

Magdiana pulled him into a hug and held him as she cried too. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She kept whispering.

Astero hugged her back, holding her as they cried for several long minutes. The crying subsided after a while, and astero looked to her. "Thanks Mag." He said in a whisper.

"Please don't thank me." She whispered. "For all I know, I just made you burn our only way out of… whatever this might be." She sniffed.

He shook his head at her words. "No… Thank you, for being here…" He said honestly. "Whatever... 'that' was… we will deal with it... together." He said looking at her seriously.

She nodded, grabbing his hand and holding it. "Please, please come to me if anything else happens. We'll get through this. Together."

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it slightly. "I will. I promise." He told her, resting his head on her shoulder. "For now, just stay here for a little longer." He sighed.

"As long as you need me, I'll be here." She smiled a watery smile. "I'm sorry that our lives are so complicated."

He let out a small chuckle. "You would think at this point we would be used to it."

"Well, we'll just get better at dealing with it." She smirked. She suddenly realized her face was a little close to his and pulled away a smidge. "Sorry." She blushed deeply.

He saw her face turn red and sat up a bit, realizing their closeness. He still held her hand, it felt nice against his. "We are complicated… aren't we?" He asked her.

She nodded, letting out a sniff. "Yeah." This made her chuckle. "I'm sorry that I made it complicated by f-." She stopped speaking, blushing even darker. "Maybe, maybe I should just go."

He held her hand tightly, and looked back at her. "It wasn't just you... " He said trailing off for a moment, before he continued. "We have been through hell and back together. And, honestly, if you hadn't said something the other day. I wouldn't have even thought of you any other way." He said turning a bit red.

"Astero, please…" She started and stopped licking her lips nervously. "I don't know if I can take it if you suddenly say that you've… you've…" She gulped, just staying quiet for a minute while she worked up the gumption. She wiggled her foot anxiously. "You've fallen in love with me too." She finally whispered.

He nodded at her. "Yeah." He said in a whisper. "The last person I would've expected a tenday ago. Yet… here I am." He chuckled slightly, looking her over. "Is that alright with you?" He asked her.

Magdiana was quiet for a minute before she finally spoke. Her mind was whirling. "Is- is there a word for better than alright because I can't think of it right now."

He chuckled at her. "Yeah, a lot of them, in multiple languages too." He smiled at her, nudging her a bit. "You look like you just witnessed a miracle."

""Didn't I?" She asked, still a bit baffled.

"Well, it did take a while to get here. But I am glad I told you." He smiled softly at her.

Magdiana grinned widely. "As?" She asked.

"Yeah Mag?" He asked her back.

"Is it too much too fast if I kiss you now?" She whispered.

He chuckled, and leaned in to give her a kiss. Staying there for a moment, testing this new realm they were in. He pulled away slowly with a small smile. "It might take some getting used to, but it's not bad." He chuckled.

She smiled back. "Weird, but not bad weird." She commented. Then, she got a conspiratorial look on her face. "Does that count as team building?"

Astero looked puzzled, and then laughed. "I think it does." He said wiping away a small tear from his eye. "That is one way to do it." He chuckled.

She leaned into him, resting her head somewhere between his chest and shoulder. "I'm scared." She admitted.

He moved his arm around her and pulled her close, looking at the ashes in the corner. "So am I." He said in a whisper.

"I wish I knew who we could trust." She told him. "But, I do know I trust you. Even enough to remove all of my daggers to sleep."

He smiled softly at her. "Thank you for trusting me." He softly spoke. "That means a lot to me." He said holding her a little closer.

"I wouldn't dream of it any other way." She smiled.

He smiled back at her, resting his head on hers. "I'm glad." He whispered.

"What sort of shitty relationship would it be if I didn't trust you while I'm disarmed?" She asked before answering her own question. "I mean, besides all of my other relationships."

"Well… for starters. We don't exactly have a normal relationship." He chuckled. "We kicked the shit out of each other for years, were trained to be soldiers, almost froze to death, ran away together on a ship, and confessed our love for one another, just moments ago." He paused for a moment. "Were exactly does the normal start?" He asked her rhetorically.

"I would say the last bit, but the crazy hit the floor moments before that, so… okay… never, but I still trust you. And, I am suddenly exhausted." She slumped into him. "Our lives are a rollercoaster."

"No… those have an end." He chuckled before yawning. "Fuck I'm tired."

She looked at him seriously. "Do you mind if I stay?" She asked. "I don't… I'm… having trust issues."

"Yeah, that's fine. I don't blame you." He nodded, before sighing deeply. "Going into work, is going to suck tomorrow."

"Do you think we should run again?" She asked seriously.

He ran the idea through his head several times, and eventually shook his head. "No… that would cause even more suspicion." He said, looking at her. "We should keep doing what we are doing, and figure it out as we go." He told her honestly. "We need to first figure out who we can trust… other than the two of us, obviously."

"I think Jacob is safe." She said a bit sadly. "He's just a kid."

"Yeah, that much is obvious." He sighed. "But I am more worried about your parents." He said sadly.

"Yeah." She nodded. "That letter… it changes everything."

"Yeah… it does." He sighed and shook his head. "But it's gone. For now… I need sleep." He said with a long yawn.

Magdiana looked at him a bit nervously before retreating to the bathroom. When she returned, she was wearing the same outfit, but she looked more comfortable. She started to walk towards the couch. "Goodnight, Astero."

Astero got up and looked at her. "You don't have to sleep on the couch." He told her seriously, walking to the bathroom. "We might have only just started this a few minutes ago, but we aren't going to rush into things." He chuckled, shutting the door behind him.

She walked over to the bed and climbed in. "Okay." She told him, getting comfortable and pressing close against the wall to leave plenty of room for him.

When he came out of the bathroom, he was wearing a shirt and pajama bottoms. He walked over to the bed and laid down next to her. He pulled the cover over him and relaxed a bit more. "Well, goodnight Mag." He smiled at her.

She looked at him, seeing him fine in the dark. "Night, As… and, don't worry, I can't stab you tonight."

"I know, I saw the daggers in the bathroom." He chuckled. "Still impressed that you have that many on you at all times."

"I could fit more, but it would get restrictive." She told him, she wiggled to get comfortable and accidentally bumped him. "Sorry."

He shook his head a bit. "Don't be. We are in the same bed, of course we are going to bump into one another." He chuckled lightly bumping her back a smidge before yawning. "I just hope you don't do that all night."

She sighed a bit. Not in frustration, but just kind of resigned. She gently took his arm and rested her head on it, backing into him. "I won't." She muttered before closing her eyes.

He smiled lightly and put his other arm around her. "Okay, good." He muttered. "Night."

"Night." She whispered, feeling her muscles relax for the first time in what felt like forever.

The two slept together soundly, simply holding each other in their arms for the night. When morning came Astero was the first to awake. He was confused at first when he couldn't feel his arm, but realized who was next to him, and what had happened last night. He watched her sleep soundly for a moment before he began to feel her stir. "Morning." he whispered to her.

She tensed for a moment before she suddenly relaxed again. "Morning."

"How did you sleep?" He asked her.

"That was the best rest of my life." She answered honestly.

"Good, i'm glad. Could you please move a bit? I think my arm is asleep." He said, feeling tingles in his arm.

She slowly sat up, stretching a bit as she did so. "Sorry. That was… the first time in a long time that I haven't slept with daggers on me."

He pulled his arm out from underneath her, and clenched his fist a few times, before popping his elbow. "Ahh… that feels better." He sighed, looking up at her. "How often did you sleep with them on?" He asked her seriously, stretching as well.

"I mean, I sometimes sleep with all of them, but, at least, one or two… one under the pillow one on a leg." She shrugged crawling out of bed. "By the way, I learned from yesterday. I brought spare clothes this time."

"I understand the pillow one, but on the leg, just sounds uncomfortable." He said honestly, now sitting up and doing a few more stretches. "Well, go change then. I will wait for you to come out." He said popping his neck.

She grabbed her clothes and got dressed. When she came back out, she was holstering the dagger that usually went on her back… or trying to, at least. "Why do I do this?" She asked rhetorically.

He got out of bed, and walked up to her. "Do you need help?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean… I fight with this one everyday and win eventually, but it would help." She laughed.

He chuckled, and gingerly took the dagger from her hand before turning her around, and carefully lifting up the back of her shirt. He placed the dagger into its holster, and patted her on the shoulder. "There you go." he smiled as he began to walk to the bathroom.

"Thank you." She said, starting to pull on her boots.

"Don't worry about it." He said shutting the bathroom door behind him, and changing into his usual attire.

She waited for him to come out, marching over and giving him a kiss before she walked to the door. "Have a good day." She smiled.

Astero smiled back at her. "You as well. Try not to get into too much trouble." He joked at her.

"You mean by speaking plainly in thieves cant to strangers at the shop? Because I'm already doing that." She laughed before closing the door behind her.

He sighed to himself as the door shut, smiling as he did so. "That bitch." He chuckled, getting his boots on and leaving a few minutes later to get to work.

Magdiana snuck passed Raze gracelessly, knowing that she wasn't hiding anything, but just not wanting to deal with the hassle. Finally, she was out the door and bounding towards work. She really didn't want to be late two days in a row. She made it with five minutes to spare before her boss arrived. "Hey, Charles." She greeted

"Good morning Magdiana." He greeted her. "Glad to see you here early." He smiled.

"Had a much better morning today." She told him honestly. "Sorry about yesterday. I was frazzled."

He waved it off. "It's fine, we all have our off days. I don't doubt you will see me in a similar manner at some point in the near future." He told her honestly.

"So, what are we making today?" She asked curiously as always.

"The same as yesterday..." He smiled at her. "But I did get a request. One that you can take care of." He said handing her the order for some poisons.

Finally. She thought to herself. "Can do." She said, looking at the request. Then, she frowned. "We have gloves and face masks, right?"

Charles looked at her curiously. "Yes of course. Why?"

"That recipe requires lavender. I'm allergic." She told him honestly.

"Ahh." He said in understanding. "They are in the back, I will get you some. Just be careful. Okay?"

"It's fine." She told him. "I know what I'm doing. And it's really just an uncomfortable reaction. I won't die or anything."

"Glad to hear." he smiled at her. "I still want you to be careful. I can't afford to let you have time off for some time i'm afraid." He half-chuckled.

She smiled. "Of course. If bad things happen, I'll just talk to my mom. She's a cleric."

Charles let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the heavens."

"Thank, Corellon." She jokingly corrected.

He smiled back. "Thank Corellon, indeed." He chuckled, before opening the door. "Well, let's get to work."

Magdiana worked on the poisons, making sure they were of the best quality so that it would help business, and by lunch time, she hadn't fucked up and made her allergies go haywire. Around noon, she was dismissed for lunch and realized that she'd brought clothes but no food the previous night. She sighed. She didn't want to seem clingy, but she did want Astero's cooking right now. So, she quickly made her way to his workplace for lunch.

When Magdiana arrived at the shop, it was busy. She waited, but, thankfully, not for long before she got to order just one sandwich this time, giving her coin and taking a seat. Several minutes later, her food arrived in the hands of the woman who owned the shop. "Thank you." She said.

"No problem miss. Do enjoy your meal." She smiled before quickly going to the next customer.

When Magdiana finished, the shop was still busy, so she called to the back, "Compliments to the chef." She smiled before starting to walk out. Astero was having a very busy day.

A moment later the woman from earlier walked up to her, and handed her a small bag. "It's from the chef." She smiled. "Enjoy." She said giving a small wink, and going back to work.

Magdiana looked in the bag and retrieved a napkin with a hand scribbled note on it. 'Have a wonderful day' and there was a small smiley face next to it. Inside the bag, was a small chocolate croissant. She laughed, but ate the snack and made her way back to work in a pleasant mood. When the day was over, she went home to spend time with her family. She was on edge for the entire evening meal, and it was noticeable. How was she even supposed to relax? By the time her toes had started tapping for the fourth time, her mother was staring at her. Magdiana stopped moving. "Sorry."

"Is everything all right, dear?" Eri asked her worriedly. "You have been acting funny ever since you got home."

She sighed, hating the need to lie… or at least tell half truths. "Anxious to see Astero, Mom. Sorry."

"Anxious? Why is that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Is everything all right between you two?"

"Yeah. We had a breakthrough. We're really getting along." She replied smoothly.

Eri smiled at her. "Good, i'm glad." She said still looking at her. "But why anxious?"

Magdiana looked at Jacob's plate and saw that he was finished. "You should probably get ready for bed, huh?" She asked her brother.

Jacob looked to her and sighed, "Yeah… I don't want to though." He frowned.

"We'll stay up late on eighth day and goof around, but you have school in the morning." Magdiana replied, waiting for him to be out of ear shot.

He smiled and nodded. "Okay, I will go get ready." He said moving to give her a hug, before turning to go to his room.

Magdiana looked between her parents, settling on her mother. She knew she couldn't get away without giving out information if they were suspicious, but she could control the information they received. "Astero and I kissed last night." She told them.

Both of their eyes went wide, and they looked to each other for a moment. Eri looked back at her. "Oh… well, I can see why you would be anxious then." She chuckled.

"I have no idea what it means for us, and… we were going to talk tonight." She told them, trying not to feel guilty about the lie. This might not be her parents. Right?

Marius sighed, and nodded. "Well… it's not like we can exactly stop you." he began looking to Eri. "if you want to go talk to him, that's fine by me… just please, and I know you already know this… be careful." He said in a caring and worried tone.

"Woah, woah." She stopped him right there. "You can save the talk, please. I'm not ready for that with him yet."

Eri looked at her seriously. "Mag, we know you are old enough, and will figure 'that' all out." she explained. "We just know that, it can be… odd. Going from friends to a couple." She said looking at Marius. She looked back to Mag. "just don't rush things, take your time." She said calmly.

"Oh, I will." She promised. "Anyway, don't wait up, please. It might be a long heart to heart."

They both nodded, but Eri replied. "We will be fine. Just worry about yourself." she smiled. "Have a good night. Okay?" She said in a motherly tone.

"Okay, thanks!" She called out, grabbing her things and dashing out the door.

"Take care!" Marius called out, seeing her take off into the night.

"We weren't like that, right?" Eri laughed, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Well… we had our moments." He told her honestly, laughing as he did so.

Magdiana made it to The Rook and actually found Astero eating dinner in the common area this night. She moved to join him. "You must've been busy. This is a really late meal. Thanks for the chocolate by the way."

He smiled at her. "Yeah, everyone wanted the roast chicken." He sighed a bit, before looking back at her. "I am glad you liked it."

"It was much appreciated after a stressful morning. Finally got an order for something really good into my wheelhouse, and lavender is an ingredient to keep if from smelling and tasting foul." She rolled her eyes.

"Well it looks like you made it through just fine." He said looking her over. "Bet you had fun making it though." He chuckled, finishing the last of his meal.

"It will be the best vials of midnight tears ever used." She responded.

"Huh, wonder why someone needs that." He thought to himself for a moment before shrugging. "Whatever, more money for you right?" He smiled at her.

She nodded. "I get some commissions, yeah. I'm waiting for the day that Charles asks me to prove that I can make a supreme healing potion. That'll be a lot."

"I didn't know you could make those." He said impressed. "You learn something new everyday."

"They're expensive and time consuming. I've made, like three over my entire life." She responded.

"Huh. Well that is cool." He smiled at her. "I want to hear the story when that happens." He chuckled.

"When I hand it to him, he'll identify it first. Then, he'll have a heart attack." She laughed. She eyed the room. "Wanna get out of here?"

"Please don't kill your boss." He said shaking his head and standing up. "Yeah, I don't want to see any more people."

She started to walk towards the front and up the stairs to Astero's room when her eyes locked with Raze's. "Good evening." She greeted.

"Evening." Raze replied with a smile. "How are you two getting along?"

Raze looked like the cat that got the canary. "I'm not confirming the clear melodrama happening in your head." Magdiana deadpanned. "Night."

"Aww… not even a smidgen?" She asked the girl.

Magdiana chuckled. "He lives here." She jerked her head towards Astero. "He might elect to tell you, but you're not getting anything out of me."

Astero simply shook his head and continued to his room. "Night raze." He replied back.

"He never talks to me." She frowned, before she looked back to magdiana. "Night, sleep well dear." she smiled at her.

"Night." She winced, realizing what she'd said. "Wait. I'm not staying." She corrected as she walked up there stairs to Astero's door. She sighed and whispered to him. "Fucking smooth as a dull butter knife."

"She can think all she wants. I'm not telling her anything." He told her honestly, before he entered his room and sat down on the bed, sighing in relief. "That's better."

She unloaded her things and joined him on the bed. "This training twice a day thing is going to kill me even if the morning is just my run, but Jacob isn't going to put up with a 10k either." She sighed and slumped back to lay face up on the bedding.

"I don't think he will be able to do a 1k." He chuckled, slumping back on the bed as well. " That was a mistake… I'm not moving from this spot now." He grunted softly, before looking over to Magdiana and smiling. "So are you just staying to chat? Or are you staying here tonight?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Not a clue." She said honestly. "Kinda nervous to sleep in their house right now, though, to be honest. I feel safer here."

Astero chuckled. "Then I guess you have your answer." He smiled and leaned in to give her a small kiss on the cheek. "I am glad you feel safe here." He said honestly.

She sighed. "I feel lawyered, but I will stay." She rolled over into him and kissed him on the cheek. "I don't mind this closeness at all. You should definitely not move."

"I wasn't planning on it. My back is too sore to move." He smiled at her.

She frowned. "Roll onto your stomach, please?"

He sighed. "Fine… but it will take me a moment." He said grunting as he rolled over, and eventually laid on his stomach for her. "Better?" He asked her.

Magdiana proceeded to remove her daggers and moved over top him, rubbing his muscles with her hands. "I'm sorry you're sore." She told him as her fingers worked his shoulders.

Astero jumped a bit as she got on top of him, but sighed when she began to massage his back. He closed his eyes and just felt the tension release from his muscles. "Ah… thank you." He sighed, looking back at her slightly. "Don't worry about it too much though. It will just take me some time to get used to the routine. Besides, it not like you made me this sore." He chuckled.

"I could." She chuckled only half-offering.

He chuckled back, and looked back at her. "As fun as that sounds right now. I will pass." He told her honestly. "I don't want to rush this, and as much as I want to, I just don't want to move." He chuckled.

"I'm not offended." She brushed him off. "I'm not ready for that between us yet if I'm being honest. Too much too fast."

"Good." He nodded back. "Glad we are in agreement." He smiled at her. "For now now please don't stop that. It feels good." He sighed feeling her hands undo a kink in his back.

She smiled. "Of course not." She continued to work and a few minutes later spoke again. "Tell me… what do you want to do when our lives settle down?"

He looked at her simply. "The same thing that I said before. A small house, baking and cooking, and just someone to be with me." He smiled at her.

"That sounds nice." She hummed. "With a big yard for target practice."

"Yeah. exactly." He chuckled imagining the idea. "And what about you? Similar plans or something different?" He asked her, closing his eyes a bit.

"This is silly and short term, but I'd like to grow my hair out and let it be brunette again. And, I think it would be nice to open my own apothecary." She offered.

"That sounds like you. You like working with that stuff." he chuckled. "And I would like to see your hair long again… I liked it long." He smiled at her.

She smiled. "Thank you. I did too. I know it was not the best for fights, but… I felt pretty."

Astero lifted himself abit and rolled over, before sitting up. "You are." He smiled giving her a small kiss. "And don't let anyone tell you otherwise." He told her seriously. Before his stomach growled. "Now do you want something to eat? I am suddenly peckish." He told her honestly.

"I could snack, but I'm not starving." She replied honestly.

"Sandwiches it is." He smiled, lifting her off of him, and getting up to make them a snack.

"What're we having?" She laughed.

"Roast chicken sandwiches." he chuckled, quickly pulling out some bread and cutting it. "Since we had so much extra at work, I brought some back for snacks." He smiled at her.

"Corellon bless you." She tried. "Nope. Sounds weird."

He laughed a bit. "Well it was either bring some back, or throw away five whole chickens… I refuse to throw away food." He told her honestly, bringing her a small plate with a sandwich on it. "Enjoy." He smiled.

"Thanks." She smiled, digging in. She basically inhaled it. "Okay. Where did that come from? I swear, I've had, like, all the food today."

"All the food?" he asked her taking a bite of his sandwich and chewing it a bit before swallowing. "Because I could still make a few things with what I have here." He half-joked.

"I had lunch and that croissant and dinner with the 'family' and that." She elaborated.

He thought about her words for a moment. "You didn't have breakfast." He added, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"If you recall from the beginning of our daring adventure, I don't like breakfast." She snarked.

He chuckled at her for a moment, and smiled. "Stick with me for a while, and I think I may just be able to change that." He grinned at her.

She chuckled. "You are welcome to try."

"Okay then." he smiled finishing the last of his sandwich and taking hers, before bringing it back to the small sink. "It won't be tomorrow, or even this week, but I think I can do that." He smiled, turning around and looking at her.

"That face is oddly convincing." She smiled. "So, what are we doing tonight? More team building?"

"I have no fucking clue." He chuckled. "But I am down for just about anything." He said honestly.

"We're supposed to be team building, so no spars, unfortunately." She frowned. "Not that they were making us better anymore…" She sighed. "How are we supposed to take down Wake when we fight him again?"

Astero sighed and walked back over to the bed, before sitting down on it. "Well, that attack you did on him worked, but you can't be throwing all your blades at him every time. You could just borrow mine, but that would be cumbersome on both of us." He hummed, thinking about how to defeat him. "He must have some sort of opening we just can't see yet."

"Can I throw your dagger?" She asked. "I thought that was a bound weapon thing?"

"Yeah you can." He said summing his dagger to his hand, and handing it to her. "I can just summon it, and can not be disarmed of it while im awake." He told her honestly. "And I can only have two bound to me at a time."

"So, I throw, you summon, you throw? Maybe, it would distract him? Sudden disappearing dagger?" She thought out loud.

He shook his head at her. "Sadly, I don't think that will work. He does something similar, remember when he hit you with his sword?" He asked her. "Pretty sure, he will also know what I can do as well."

She grabbed her chest. "Ugh. Yeah. I remember. Shit hurt."

He nodded, and shivered. "Yeah, getting thrown from the ship hurt." He sighed.

"Alright, so… do you think moving stuff on the ship was difficult to control?" She asked. "Could you tell if he was concentrating? I don't really know what that looks like yet."

Astero thought about it for a moment, and shook his head. "Nah, He wasn't muttering anything. He looked relaxed. My guess is that whatever is on the ship is permanent." He sighed.

"What do we know about warlocks then? You said he was one." She suggested.

He sighed deeply, before looking at her. "Either we make him use all of his spells right away, and attack him in melee range. Maybe just attack him at close range… Or, we figure out a way to get him off of the ship." He said, giving several suggestions.

"I wonder if there's a cleric thing to push people." She wondered aloud. "You already know that I'm best if I can strike first… and whenever I have a tactical advantage. I make people hurt best that way."

"Not too sure on the pushy bit, but I could always try to grapple him. I don't have any spells to help with hitting… Yet." He told her.

"I'm not sure when or what 'yet' is, but I'm…" She blushed. "Nevermind."

He saw her blush, and looked at her intently. "What is it?" He asked her seriously.

"Too much information courtesy of word vomit." She sighed, giving in. "The prospect is… oddly arousing. Happy?"

He made an odd face, before shaking his head lightly. "Well… it's not the first thing that comes to mind… but who am I to judge. Dated a girl who liked getting punched… that didn't last long." he sighed.

She flinched. "No, no. Nothing like that. I was thinking more like watching you do it looking all strong and powerful."

"Oh…" Astero chuckled. "Well thank you. You are too kind for noticing." He said, flexing as he said that.

She smirked, gripping his bicep playfully. "Which lunatic in Evermore actually wanted to be hit like that? Jeez."

"Abigail." He said with a chuckle. "Like I said, it didn't last long."

"I barely remember that one." She commented. "That's… a really weird kink."

"Yeah… it was… uncomfortable." He sighed. "Glad that it never worked out."

"I can imagine." She said quietly. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head at her. "Don't worry about it. Honestly it was laughable. She was weird." He chuckled.

"At least you didn't hold a dagger at your lovers throat while you fucked." She offered. "Not the best experience to be honest."

"That I could handle," He joked. "At least then it wouldn't have been so odd."

"I am… not into that stuff at all." She shrugged. "But, I do have needs, and he suited them."

"Neither am I." He replied to her. "And I was in the same boat… I needed a release."

She nodded. "Same." She blushed and looked away. "It's actually… been awhile, but I can take care of myself."

Astero blushed slightly. "Good… Just imagine me without my shirt on." He chuckled at her.

She blushed brighter and looked at him. "Didn't need the visual… or the permission, but thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled at her casually.

She nudged him. "Don't act all low key about it, you fuck."

"What? We're adults." He said raising an eyebrow at her. "And we are a thing now, so it is bound to happen."

"Doesn't make it any less weird at the moment. Still kinda getting used to this." She pointed between the two of them. "I do love you, though." She placed her head on his shoulder.

"And, I Love you, too." He softly replied, putting an arm around her. He kissed her lightly on the head. "It will take time to get used to, but I find joking helps ease into it." He said honestly. "Besides, it's only awkward if you make it awkward." He smiled.

She smirked. "I bet I could make it awkward."

"Why?" He asked her seriously. "Are you really that pent up?"

"Oh, no. Nothing like that." She laughed, leaning in and licking his face chin to forehead. "Now, I've claimed you as my own grade school style."

Astero blinked for a moment and cast prestidigitation. He looked at her, and leaned in like he was going for a kiss, then he put his mouth around her nose and blew into it. "And now you are mine." He chuckled.

"Ugh!" She pushed him away lightly, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "That felt… I feel violated. Dork."

"And I don't?" He joked. "You goof."

She laughed. "Alright. I give. Anymore battle strategies or is it just time to relax?"

He laid down on the bed. "I'm relaxing. I don't want to think anymore." he smiled at her.

She nodded, rolling out of the bed and retreating to the bathroom for a minute. When she came back, she carefully climbed on top of him, kissed the tip of his nose, and started to roll off of him. A small mischievous smile graced her features.

"What is with that look?" He chuckled at her.

"Dunno. You're just so readable. Your face is so expressive." She responded, laying next to him and draping an arm over his midsection. Her eyes closed. "I wish I weren't so tired."

He turned and faced her, yawning as he did so. "I know the feeling." he gave her a small kiss and got up to use the bathroom, coming back out wearing his night clothes. He laid down next to her and moved her arm back around him, before wrapping an arm around her. "Now I am ready for sleep." he yawned.

She nodded into him, resting her forehead on his chest. "Sleep well, As. Love you."

"Love you, too." He mumbled. "Sleep well."

Magdiana's light snores greeted his ears shortly thereafter. A few minutes later, she started making small sounds in her sleep, and she unconsciously wiggled into him. It was hard to tell if she was even sleeping, but it became apparent that she was when she started speaking incoherently… right up until she said his name.

Astero heard her mumbles and his name, he was a light sleeper. He gently pulled her to him, trying to calm her dreams as it were. He eventually got to sleep, and when he did so, he unconsciously wrapped a leg around her, like a small child cuddling a teddy bear.

Magdiana awoke thoroughly enveloped in the arms and legs of Astero. She was tightly in his arms, and content to enjoy the feeling for a bit longer. She didn't feel the need to move at the moment, so she simply closed her eyes and enjoyed the comforting feeling of being close to him for awhile longer. Unfortunately, like her, he was an early riser, and, soon, he was making the sounds and movements of wakefulness as well. "Good morning." She whispered, kissing him underneath his chin since she couldn't reach further from her position.

Astero blinked a few times, looking her over, before he gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Good morning." He smiled at her. "Sleep well? I heard you mumbling last night." he said holding her for a bit longer.

"Just having a dream." She told him honestly. "A good one."

"Involving me?" He smirked.

"Yes." She responded.

"I figured. I heard you say my name." He told her.

She nodded, trying not to blush. "It was a really good dream."

He shook his head slightly, and gave her a small kiss. "I bet it was." He chuckled, getting up to use the bathroom.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, making her way to her pack and getting changed while she waited to Astero to leave the bathroom. She traded places with him when he left the room and did her ablutions before returning to the bedroom. She sighed a bit. "Alright. I've got to go workout and, then, go to work. Then, time with Jacob and dinner with the family. See you tonight?"

Astero walked over and gave her a kiss. "Yeah that's fine. I will see you then." he smiled at her.

Magdiana kissed him briefly before running out of the bedroom. She waved goodbye to a very interested Raze, and heard her mutter, "Wake will be so interested to hear about this when he gets back soon."

Magdiana didn't have time to respond, though. Instead, she started her run, making it to work just in time. That day, she learned that the person who had ordered the midnight tears before had placed a new larger order for other poisons. She felt much more useful, knowing that she was helping the business, and, at the end of the day, she was given a nice bonus as a thanks for bringing in such a good customer. At the end of the day, she went home and worked with Jacob on his dagger skills before dinner time came again. She was eating quickly and not speaking. She just wanted to go see Astero.

"Magdiana." Her father stated. "You can stop to breathe. There's extra."

Magdiana was so in her own world that she didn't hear him. She just continued to eat.

Eri looked at her and sighed, she leaned in slightly, and said at almost a whisper. "Asteros here."

"Hmm?" Magdiana's head perked up, and she looked around at the table. "Where?"

Eri laughed. "He's not actually here. Sorry." she frowned slightly, chuckling as she spoke. "You were so caught up in your own world, that, you didn't even hear your father say to slow down, and spoke at a regular tone. Not a whisper." She joked, leaning back in her seat a bit.

"Sorry." She sighed, putting her fork down. "Honestly, I just need a day off. My training schedule is killing me along with work. It's so much busier than I'm used to, and I promised to go see Astero tonight."

Both of her parents chuckled as she said the last part of her sentence. Though it was Marius who spoke first. "So, that means the talk went well last night?" He smiled at her.

She suddenly blushed, realizing what she said. "Oh, uh, yeah. I guess."

"Well, that's good to hear." He smiled at her. "We are glad that things are going well for you. I still would like to meet him. Maybe you could bring him over for dinner some night?" He asked her, curious to meet the man who had enamoured his daughter.

She nodded. "I… uh, yeah. I could. Just, please, don't smite him… or, at least, not too hard. I really like him."

Marius chuckled. "I won't do that unless he hurts you… even then I am sure you will beat me to the punch." He laughed.

Eri looked at marius with a smirk. "Even if you did smite him, he could take it. I saw a bit of their fight with wake, he is strong." She smiled, and gave a small wink at Magdiana.

"Thanks." Magdiana placed her face in her hand. "Yes, I would stab anybody who tries to hurt me, and, yeah, we're both trained fighters. He's stronger than me."

"I figured as much." Marius chuckled. "And relax. We are only joking." he looked at jacob for a moment. "Hey, think you and your sister can take a break for a little bit with your exercise?" he asked him.

Jacob looked at his dad and then to his sister. "Yeah, we can take a break." he said with a slight frown. "It won't be for too long. Right?" He asked her.

"Uh, well, no, but I'm kind of exhausted. You've got me training twice a day, buddy." She said honestly.

He frowned a bit more. "Sorry sis. I didn't mean to do that to you." He said apologetically.

"No, please don't apologize. I like spending time with you, but, maybe we could stick to board games or something for awhile?" She offered.

Jacob smiled as she said that. "Oh yeah. That would be fun!"

"Deal." Magdiana said, finishing the last bite of her meal. " She wiped her face with her napkin. "May I please be excused?"

Eri smiled at her daughter. "Yes you may dear." She chuckled.

Magdiana got up and placed a kiss on Jacob's temple and gave a hug to each parent, bringing her plate to the kitchen and rinsing it before running to her bedroom to change and pack her bag. When she exited her bedroom, she found her parents still at the dinner table. She started to walk to the front door. "Please don't wait up. I don't know when I'll be back."

Eri smiled and waved her off. "It's fine dear, have a good night."

Marius waved as well. "Stay safe out there." He smiled at her.

"Bye sis!" Jacob smiled at her.

"Later!" She called out, practically running to The Rook. She wanted to see Astero, and damned it all if she didn't want to get out of the house before her parents started to give her the talk again.

Astero's day was actually rather slow by comparison to the last few days that he had been working. It was a welcome relief for him to be able to actually sit down for once while at work. He chatted with Grace, and learned that she was married, and also, Gordan's daughter. He looked at the two of them a few times and shook his head. "I don't see any resemblance, i'm guessing you take after your mother then, huh?" He chuckled.

Grace nodded and smiled. "Yes, which I am thankful for. It has helped me immensely." She teased at her father.

Gordan scoffed, and leaned back in his chair. "It might have helped you now. But in 30 years you will start to look like me." He chuckled.

Astero laughed at the two of them. "You two are some of the best entertainment." He smiled.

"Oh really?" Grace said, crossing her arms and sitting back in her chair. "Well, you are a pretty good show yourself, 'Mr. giving pastries to your girlfriend'." He chuckled.

Astero turned a bit red when she said that. "So what? It was only the one, and gods only know we have plenty more." He said defensively.

Gordan chuckled heartily. "We do have plenty of them. And you must really like her if you are getting this worked up over a simple gesture like that." He grinned.

Grace smiled at Astero. "You two must be all over each other with the looks I have seen you share."

Astero looked at Gordan and then to Grace, his face red out of embarrassment. "Okay. Yeah I like her a lot. Alright? Is that better?" He them them rhetorically. "And no!" He said a bit louder to grace. "We are not all over each other. We barely have time to see one another, let alone hang out." He sighed, slumping back into his chair.

Grace giggled. "We are only messing with you. We don't care who you date, it's your life to live." She smiled.

"Exactly." Gordan added. "And I apologize for working like you have." He told him honestly. "You are a hard worker, and I appreciate you for that. Don't worry, you will be getting a few days off after tomorrow. Then we will start figuring out a schedule for everyone, we all need days to ourselves." He told them.

"That sounds good." Astero said happily. "It would be nice to sleep in." He smiled.

"Soon." Grodan chuckled. "Just one more day. For now let's get back to work." He said, seeing a small group approach the door.

Astero nodded and quickly made his way into the kitchen, working with a newfound vigor as he now knew he only had one more day to go before being able to spend more time with Magdiana. He was glad that she had been spending the night, but he really just wanted to talk with her for more than an hour or two before they both fell asleep. By the end of the day, gordan closed up the store early, and Astero went home with some time on his hands, so he got some food to make a treat for Mag when she arrived later. He grabbed some fruit, and small sponge cakes, and whipped up some cream for a light dessert, since he figured she would have already eaten with her parents. The dessert was done in record time, so he just sat back and read while he waited for her.

He greeted her with a smile when she knocked on his door. "Good evening." He smiled, pulling her into the room and giving her a kiss. "How was your day?" he said, shutting the door behind her.

"Exhausting again, but I got a bonus for bringing in a new repeat customer. And, it sounds like I'm getting weekends off, so just one day to go until then." She smiled, stepping in. "How about you?"

He smiled widely back at her. "Great! Today was a slow day, so I got off a little early, and guess what? I will be getting the weekends off as well. Just one more day!" He grinned.

She hugged him out of nowhere. "That's wonderful." She said as she held him for a minute.

He hugged her back, and held her close. "It will be nice to actually have time off. We need it." He chuckled, moving away slightly but still hugging her.

"I think that I might have to actually sleep at my parents' place soon. I think they're getting suspicious." She told him with a sigh. "And, they want you to come for dinner sometime."

Astero sighed, and hung his head a bit. "I don't really want to, but I will." He told her. "Might at least give you some space."

She sighed. "Yeah. I think it has a lot to do with not raising me. They weren't there for dates and the talk and all that. So, you're their lucky victim. I'm sorry." She sighed and whispered lowly. "These better be my real fucking parents or I swear there will be stabbings."

"Oh boy!" He said sarcastically. "It's not the first time i have been the lucky pick." He said sitting on the bed, pulling her with him and whispering lowly for her. "If they aren't, I'll help you." he said seriously.

She removed her daggers and sat down on the bed. "I really feel like they are. You don't just act how they're acting, and Jacob seems to be enough like me that I feel like we're related. But, that letter has really fucked me up."

"I know." he sighed deeply. "I keep trying to look out for the guy that ran into me, but I doubt I will see him again. Thought he could give us clues."

"I think that, at this point, we can only trust people by their actions. The fact that the guy left you a cryptic message and disappeared into the ether makes me think that he's just trying to fuck with us, but I obviously don't have proof of that." She tried to explain. "I feel like we can trust Raze and Wake more than him."

Astero nodded. "Yeah. Wake and Raze, have been pretty straight forward with us. But that guy, and whoever my 'brother' is, if they wanted to tell us, they should be up front. Not skirting around, and watching us from a distance." he said looking up at her.

"Yeah, it's more creepy than helpful." She told him, leaning in and kissing his cheek. "No matter what happens, I'm here for you."

He leaned back and kissed her cheek. "Thank you." He said with a small smile. "And I will be here for you."

"You know, I feel like our next fight with Wake will be a big difference. I feel much more in synch with you than before. Like… I know your moves, but, now, I might be able to collaborate better or something… I hate that he's right, though." She laughed. "He strikes me as one of those smug 'i was right' types. Also, I think he's coming back soon. Raze said something this morning."

"Yeah, I feel the same way. Like, now we are better able to think about what the other one is thinking." He smiled. "And yeah, I think he will be back soon. I overheard some people say things about shipments coming soon." he laughed, standing up. "By the way, are you hungry? I made some dessert since I had time this afternoon."

"Oh, I will not say no to sugar right now." She nearly moaned.

"Then give me just a moment." He chuckled. He walked over and grabbed the dessert and brought it back with a small fork, handing it to her. "Enjoy." He said, sitting down next to her.

She took a bite before stabbing another piece and offering it to him. "Have you had any?"

He leaned in and took a bite, licking his lips of the cream. "I figured you would want some more than me. Also since it was slow today, I had time to eat." He told her honestly.

"You still deserve a treat, you know." She took another bite. "You work your ass off. I've seen it."

He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for thinking about me." He chuckled. "But I can assure that I get my fair dose of treats. How do you think I came up with that?" He said, raising an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged. "Well, that's obvious, but I don't see you eat sweets. Well, ever, and it's kinda nice to know that… and I know you're going to laugh… you eat it too and don't think of me as a pig or something."

He laughed. "No I don't think of you like that. If anything, you have only ever seen me hold back while eating. I look like a savage when I get really hungry." He chuckled.

"I kind of figured. Sometimes, after a big workout, I eat two whole meals in under twenty minutes. You probably have to eat more than me." She surmised.

He nodded and held up two fingers. "Two whole cooked chickens. It was a long tiring day, I hadn't eaten, and I trained for most of the day. It was bad."

She took another bite of dessert. "Exactly. We could competitively eat against each other." This made her laugh.

"As fun as that sounds. I will pass." He chuckled. "It would make hugging and sleeping risky." he shivered a bit.

"Oh, I was definitely not suggesting it." She paused taking the last bite of the sweet. "I'm not competitive enough to make myself physically ill from eating."

"And I am glad." He smiled, and took her plate from her to go and clean it. He returned a moment later and sat down on the bed next to her again. "So, feeling better?" He asked her with a smile.

"Much. Thank you." She smiled. "So, what are we going to do with all of our time off?"

He chuckled, and shook his head a bit. "I am not entirely sure. Sleeping in is going to be number one on that list for sure though." He laughed at that. "But I was thinking of actually going swimming."

She smiled. "I would love that. Might need a suit, though."

Astero looked over her for a moment. "There is probably a place in town that sells them."

"Probably." She hummed a bit before blushing. "There's some of those that leave very little to the imagination."

"I mean… I wouldn't complain about it." he said blushing a bit. "But that is your call."

"I guess I'll see what I like. I've never had one before." She laughed, pulling at her collar. "It's too hot here."

"Yeah." He laughed. "It still feels weird wearing the new clothes I got… I feel exposed."

She nodded. "And still overheated as hell. I don't think I'll ever get used to it."

"Don't remind me. At least when it gets to the winter, we will laugh in the faces of everyone." He chuckled.

"I doubt it gets below freezing all that often here. We'll probably be wearing short sleeves still." She chuckled.

"Yeah, and shorts." He smiled at her.

"We could probably walk barefoot." She added.

"While eating ice cream." He added as well, laughing as he did so. "Ah. it is going to be so much better living here."

She nodded. "Some things will be really nice."

He leaned back on the bed, resting his back against the wall. His grabbed her hand and rubbed it with his thumb. "Having you here is going to be the best bit though." He smiled at her.

"I'm glad that we have each other now." She smiled, sweetly kissing him on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you." He said, staying there for a long moment, before pulling away. "I'm glad we told each other. Otherwise this would have been an awkward mess." he chuckled.

"We would be still figuring out the team building thing." She laughed.

"Yeah, arguing over which puzzle piece goes where." He laughed.

She smiled. "I actually brought a puzzle with yesterday, but it never made it out of my bag."

"That's silly." He smiled at her, before looking at the clock and seeing it was still relatively early. "So what do you want to do in the meantime?" He asked her. "It's still early before we should sleep."

She dug through her bag and pulled out the puzzle. "It's a big one. Want to get it started?"

"Yeah alright." He chuckled, and got up to get the table ready for them to use. "What's the picture of?" He asked, moving some things to the side.

"It's a seascape with a beach and boats." She showed him the picture.

"Oh, it's nice." He smiled, nodding at the picture. "It will certainly give us some time to kill."

She started to open the box on the coffee table. "Yeah. I figured we could build and chat."

"Fine by me." He smiled at her, beginning to move pieces from the box to the table, He began to start putting the border pieces together, before glancing up at her. "So work is going well then?"

"It is… going surprisingly well." She told him. "I'm getting paid a regular rate and bonuses when Charlie sees fit. The bonuses are nice."

"That's good. He seems like a good guy." He nodded, putting two pieces together.

She started to sort the other pieces by coloring, seeing he had the borders well in hand. "Yeah. He keeps a lot close to his chest, but he pays well and isn't an asshole."

"Well if he runs a poisons shop, I would keep things close to my chest too." he added, moving a bit of the border to some of her part and connecting it.

"Thing is… he didn't really sell all that many poisons until I came along. It was mostly potions and herbs." She looked over at him.

"Maybe he wasn't as good as you are. You have been making them since you were young." He said looking back at her.

She nodded. "Not something I'm proud of, but it's true."

"And you're very good at it." He said lightly nudging her. He then began to work on the next edge.

She started to work on assembling the pieces of a boat. "I'm still sorry that I was told to use them on you during some bouts back then." She looked uncomfortable. "That was not cool."

Hey moved closer to her and put an arm around her. "Hey. it's alright. I am still here." he told her honestly. "I'm sorry for using you for target practice with my spells. That was fucked up." He frowned.

"I don't have any scars or anything." She shrugged. "If they were good at one thing with us, it was keeping us alive."

He smiled at her. "Yes they were. And now we are good at keeping each other alive." He chuckled.

"Better soon, I hope." She said. "I want to ask my mom to show me more cleric stuff."

"Do it." He told her. "No better person to ask."

"Anything would be better than just the one cantrip and the one healing spell." She giggled. "I'm pretty sure I can make holy water and shit."

"The holy water I approve of. Not so much the shit." He joked at her.

She laughed. "Oh, very funny."

"I am hilarious." He chuckled.

"Sometimes." She smirked. "I really want to catch up to you strengthwise. You can attack like four times in a few seconds with your sword. I can't keep up with your damage output, but, if I was a better cleric…" She trailed off.

He took her face in his hands, and lightly pressed her face together. "You are going to be terrifying." He said shaking her head lightly. "And you can already take me down from like any position…" he blushed slightly as he said that. "It's really impressive."

She giggled at his blush. "You like that I can wrestle you down." Her voice was low and promised much.

"Honestly… I like you wrapping around me." He said looking into her eyes. "Legs and all." He said back in a similar manner.

She put down the few pieces she was holding and slowly moved into his lap, straddling him before kissing him softly. "Like that?" She played.

He grinned at her, and ran a hand down her back. "Yes, but with a bit more coiling." He said, running his other hand underneath her shirt.

She closed her eyes, feeling his hand on her. "You're lucky I took the daggers off, As."

"You know they wouldn't have stopped me." He grinned, kissing her softly.

She grinned into the kiss. "I can practically feel you taking them off of me. I like the thought."

"It's not a bad one at all." He smirked, moving his hand to the back of her head and pulling her close to him, kissing her longingly.

She kissed him back, licking his bottom lip with her tongue. Her stomach clenched in excitement, and she breathed heavily before moving away only slightly so their lips weren't touching. "Sorry. I don't want to rush if you don't want to."

He leaned his forehead against hers, looking into her eyes. "I don't want to rush into this, I really don't... But I really want you." He told her honestly, and sincerely.

"Same." She whispered. "I want more than a physical relationship. I mean… that part will be nice, but… I just want all of you."

"I have a feeling that part will be spectacular." He quietly joked, still looking into her eyes. "No matter what happens though, you next to me, it just fine." He whispered softly.

"I'm thinking that you're right. That part will be pretty phenomenal." She trailed her fingers down his back slowly. She placed her forehead on his chest to rest. "But just hearing your comfortable breathing and heartbeat are nice too."

He smiled at her, and moved his hands up to hold her close. He sighed contently, just enjoying their closeness. "This is nice." He said quietly, feeling her heartbeat with his hands. "Just... be careful how you move. You might run into something." He chuckled.

"I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have done this." She apologized. "I'm an idiot. I know how this works."

"No. I am glad you did this." He said honestly. "Now we both know more about the other… team building." He chuckled.

"Team building." She laughed. "Do you want me to help with your problem?" She offered quietly.

He paused for a long moment. "I… wouldn't say no." He told her quietly.

She looked him in the eyes before wiggling a little further away from him and trailing her hands down his chest and down between them. For several minutes, there was nothing but the two of them in the heat of the moment. They learned about each other growing closer as a couple without actually committing the act they both so desired at the moment. When those moments were over, Magdiana sighed, telling him. "You're amazing."

He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Your not so bad yourself." He smiled back at her, casting prestidigitation on the two of them to clean them up. "You made quite the mess." He joked at her.

"Right." She laughed. "Me. By myself."

"Okay… you had a little help." He chuckled.

"A little." She joked back, looking down and back up at him significantly. She pecked him on the cheek. "So much for waiting." She sighed. Then, she looked at the table she was on. "And the puzzle."

He chuckled seeing several pieces scattered across the floor. He shook his head a bit, and looked at their situation. He looked at her with a small smile. "Yeah we might have jumped the gun a little bit." He half chuckled.

"A little." She said, carefully sitting up and climbing off of the table. She grabbed the puzzle pieces and tossed them on the table. "I'm suddenly exhausted."

He nodded and stood up. "Yeah." He said looking at the puzzle. "Lets get some sleep, we can worry about that later." He said waving it off.

"Do you mind if I sleep how I normally would tonight?" She asked, looking over at him. "I normally dress a bit different."

He shook his head at her. "I don't mind... " He said trailing off as a yawn hit him. "So long as I can do the same." He said back.

She looked at him and smiled. "Oh, good. I thought it was just me. Thanks for thinking of me before, though, but, please be comfortable."

He smiled back. "I try to be courteous." He joked, moving over to a dresser and pulling out a relaxed fit t-shirt, before changing into it. He sat on the bed and took off his pants and climbed in, staying in a shirt and boxers.

She eyed him before taking off her own shirt and revealing her bra. She removed that and removed her pants, leaving just a small pair of panties. "I'm not ashamed. I've basically been sleeping naked since… high school?"

He looked over her body intently admiring her figure. "I am not complaining." He said smiling at her. Watching her body moved as she walked. "Not at all."

She chuckled at his reaction. "We are sleeping." She half-threatened.

"I know… but it has been awhile since I have had a nearly naked woman in my room. I am just admiring the view." He told her seriously.

"Thank you." She said, climbing into the bed with him. She put her back to his chest and stomach, cuddling into him. "I love you, Astero." It was just above a whisper.

"I love you, Magdiana." He said pulling her close to his chest, and savoring the feeling of her soft skin against his, he closed his eyes and whispered softly back. "Sleep well."

"You too." She told him as her eyes closed and sleep quickly took her. The soft snores of sleep filled the room moments later.


	7. En Passant

Astero awoke in the morning feeling refreshed, and well rested. He looked to see the still mostly naked magdiana sleeping soundly next to him and smiled, she looked very peaceful when she slept. He moved an arm around her to hold her, enjoying her warmth next to his. A few short minutes later he felt her stir awake. "Morning." He said softly to her.

"Morning." She murmured. "How'd you sleep?"

"Much better." He said stretching and popping his back in the process. "How did you sleep?" He asked her.

"I amend my words from a few days ago. That was the best rest of my life." She told him, turning over to look at him. Her lips met his briefly. "I could get used to this."

"Yeah, this is nice." He said with a small smile. "And it will only get better."

She looked at him oddly. "Better? I'm not following."

"Well, hopefully soon, we will have our own place." He said simply. "And also, last night was child's play. The morning after that will be the best sleep ever." He joked at her.

She looked at the sheets. "Oh. Speaking of which… how much do you think we need? I'm up to about one hundred gold that isn't spending money."

"I'm at around the same." He said doing some math in his head. "I think if we get to around five hundred a piece, we might be able to at least put a down payment on one." He said honestly.

She nodded. "Maybe we should look for adventuring work. Might give us a nice lump sum."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea, and we do have some days off coming up." He added.

"I'm in." She said, rolling over him and out of the bed to get dressed. "I've got to go work out."

He nodded and got up to get dressed as well, watching her as she changed. "Same I need to get to work here soon too." He sighed a bit. "Are going to be here tonight or are you staying with the parents?" Asked her curiously.

"I'm coming here tonight." She told him. "I feel bad for you. Your boss likes to work early. Charlie likes sleep."

"Lucky." he said sticking his tongue out at her, before walking over and giving her a kiss. "So then what are the plans for tomorrow? We both have the day off right?" He asked her seriously.

"Three things." She held up her fingers and ticked off items as she said them. "Sleep in. Nice breakfast together. Adventure."

"That. Sounds. Delightful." He smiled giving her three small kisses as he spoke. "In that case, I will see you later." He said making his way to the door.

She nodded. "Yeah, see you." She ran out the bedroom door and past the front desk where a red and blue tiefling stood next to each other.

The blue tiefling looked to the red one. "Oh, I've missed interesting developments."

"You have no idea." Raze smiled at her husband.

"What have I missed exactly?" Wake asked looking at his wife then seeing Astero make his way out of the building.

Raze smiled, and walked over to a booth and sat down. "Well… from what I can tell, since they haven't talked to me in days..." She frowned a bit before continuing. "They got jobs and have become a couple." She smirked. "And they aren't hiding it well."

Wake leaned back, and sighed in the booth. "When I meant team building, I meant like running or sports. Not to explore each others nethers." He sighed deeply. "Fucking kids."

"Hey. we were young and stupid too. Let them figure it out." She smiled.

"Your right." he smiled at her. "For now, I need a drink."

Asteros day at work was busier than the day prior, but it was still slow enough for him to relax. He spent some time prepping the food, as well as trying out a few new items for people to try. By the days end, he was tired, but happy. He finally had a few days off, and was looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. When he arrived back at The Rook, Astero actually saw Wake this time around, he sighed as he walked up to him.

"Hello astero, how have you been?" Wake asked with a smile.

"Well, I have been better. I thought you would be back in a few days?" He asked him. "Why so soon?"

"Tailwinds. Makes travel go so much faster." Wake said honestly, looking over him. "You have been busy. What are you doing now?" he asked him.

"I'm working as a cook." Astero replied. "So far it's been good."

"Well i'm glad." the tiefling smiled at him. "So how is the team building?" He grinned at him.

Astero saw his look, and shook his head. "It's going well. We aren't fighting, and we are getting along well." he told him honestly, without going into details.

"I bet it is." Wake chuckled.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" He asked getting defensive.

"Oh it could mean anything. From working hard together… to getting hard together. If you catch my drift?" He said nudging him slightly.

In one swift motion, Astero grabbed Wake's arm, and threw him up and over himself, making the tiefling fall fall on his ass. On the other side of the young man. He leaned down and got close to his face. "Hey wake?"

"Yeah?" He said clearly in pain.

"You talk too much." astero said stepping over him, and going up to his room for the evening. "Night!" He called down.

"Oww." Wake uttered. Staying on the floor for a long moment. "Night." He mumbled, even though Astero didn't hear it.

As soon as Charlie met Magdiana this morning, he set her to work on a superior healing potion, which requires a minimum of twelve hours of very fussy work, so it was that Magdiana worked from eight to eight without a break. By the time she was walking to her parents' home, it was already dark. Her hands were in her pockets, and she slouched as she walked. "What's the point?" She asked herself as she walked, stomach rumbling. "Oh, yeah. That's why."

She eventually made it home, and Jacob was already asleep. Her mother gave her a plate of food that she'd kept warm, and she ate until she felt bloated and sick- she was so hungry. She packed her bag, yawning as she made to leave the house to go see Astero. "Later." She called to nobody in particular.

"Where are you going so late?" Eri asked curiously.

"I promised Astero that I'd come see him tonight before I knew I'd be working so late. I don't want to make him worry that I didn't show up." Magdiana answered mostly honestly. She didn't want to add that she hadn't slept in the house for several nights now. Nor that she wasn't certain that they could be trusted.

Eri frowned a bit, but nodded. "Oh. okay, well… just make sure stay safe out there. Okay?" she said with a worried look in her eyes.

"I'll just go straight there. No detours. Might stay the night, though. Don't want to be walking back and forth too late." She said honestly this time.

"Okay. Good to hear." She half smiled.

"Love ya." Magdiana said, hugging the woman and exiting the house, strolling towards town. She sighed. Why did this have to be so difficult? She could come and go and even snuck out on multiple occasions in Yutan. They must be her real parents. They were hovering and overprotective as fuck.

Eventually, she was walking down the docks. It was dark, and there was very little movement. The people that were about all had determined looks and had clear destinations. She was much too burnt out for that, and continued to walk slowly and almost robotically. The hairs seemed to raise at the back of her neck, and she ventured a glance over her shoulder. "Great." She muttered to herself as she noticed that she had a tag. She wasn't stupid enough to start running. Instead, she just continued her same lazy pace, trying to be vigilant without actually looking back at the man again.

She followed the street towards The Rook, and, in the darkness, saw a body milling around the front entrance of the building. She let out a sigh. She couldn't tell if that person was a friend or in kahoots with the one following her, but she had a feeling that it was the latter. Her mind started to rush with scenarios, and she thought that she could probably take two people in a fight if necessary. She slowed her pace, wanting the one behind her to catch up. Once he was closer, she looked over at him properly, eyeing weapon locations. "Oh, good evening. Didn't see you there. Out for a walk?" She asked him casually, but implying a lot with her words.

He did a double take, realizing she was acknowledging him. "Indeed, it's a fine night, lass. Afraid I'm out on business, though, so I'll have to be along soon."

Magdiana swallowed an internal groan. Fuck. That wasn't good. That meant he was here for her. "Oh, what sort of business is open at this time? I'm sorry that your employer has kept you from your family." She replied.

"Afraid it can't be helped." He shrugged, and she watched as his hand twitched towards a hidden dagger. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Telegraphing was a rookie mistake.

She whipped out a dagger and had it impaled into his hand faster than he could react. "That's a shame. How can I help?" She told him sweetly, but now oozing implications with the thieves cant she'd been using.

Bleeding, his hand dripped on the ground as the other removed her dagger. He grunted, wiping it off and handing it to her. "Oh, you're good." He commented. "Here." He gave her a small pouch and walked away. "Thanks for the remedies and whatnot this week."

She was about to ask what he meant when suddenly he disappeared in the whirl of a red cloak and, behind her, the heavy footsteps of Astero could be heard. She would recognize those footsteps anywhere.

Astero walked up and hugged Magdiana tightly. "What took you so long?" He asked, looking her over closely. "I was getting worried."

"Charlie needed a superior healing potion. Those take a long time to make. I wasn't done until after dark." She explained.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. I thought maybe something happened to you. Still on edge." He said holding her hand. "Glad you're fine." He smiled at her.

She nodded, looking down at the pouch and back at him. "Something did happen. Some guy followed me here."

Astero's eyes looked around, before settling on hers. "What did he look like?" he asked her intently.

"My height. Slight build. Black hair short. Red cloak. Hidden weapons. Six of them. Two visible weapons." She responded, reciting what she'd seen using years of practice and training.

He sighed, when the description didn't match his one from the other day. "You are fine though, right?" He asked her. "He didn't hurt you?"

"No, he reached for a weapon, but I got him first. Then, he gave me this." She held up the pouch in her hand.

"Is it coin?" He asked, looking at it curiously.

She handed him the pouch. "Don't open it yet." Then, she pulled a pair of gloves out of her bag before taking the pouch back and opening it. Inside were several bright silvery coins that she recognized as platinum pieces. "Uh… yeah. It's coin, but…" She trailed off.

"Holy shit." He said looking at the coins inside. "Why the fuck would someone try to reverse pickpoket you?" He asked her very confused.

"He said thanks for the remedies, but I'd never seen him before." She looked up at him before her fingers found a coin that felt different from the others. Her brow furrowed as she pulled out an elaborate and near black coin with an 'S' engraved in the design. "What's that?" She asked, holding it up.

He looked over the coin for several moments, before he shook his head. "I have no fucking clue. So he came all this way to give you a tip? And whatever that is?" He said confused. He turned to look at Mag. "Let's get back inside, I can barely see out here."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." She said, thinking about how she'd like for him to be able to see for a moment before the coin she was holding suddenly lit up with light. "Of course, now, I cast a spell. Motherfucker."

He chuckled for a moment. "Come on, you must be tired." He said leading the way back to The Rook. he turned to look at her. "Just a heads up, Wake is back." He sighed. "And I am pretty sure he knows about us… being a couple."

"Of course he does." She rolled her eyes. "He's a know it all."

"Yeah… I threw over my shoulder, he was hinting at the idea that we did it." He sighed.

"Oh, that doesn't bother me. He can think all he wants. When he starts acting like he knows, then I've got a problem." She sounded deadly.

"And that's why I like you." He chuckled, giving her a small peck on the cheek.

She smiled. "Thank you for defending my honor."

He puffed up his chest a small bit. "You are very welcome m'lady." He said, giving her a small bow.

She nudged him playfully as they walked into The Rook, and her eyes met Wake's. "Hey, Wake." She smiled at him.

"Good evening Magdiana." he smiled at her. "How has your day been?" he said looking the two of them over.

"Exhausting. Worked twelve hours straight without a break." She responded honestly, starting to head towards the stairs.

"Well… have a wonderful night you two." He chuckled.

A second later, a gloved hand was releasing a dagger and it landed deeply into Wake's thigh. She walked up to him, pulling the weapon out and healing him. "Next time, that'll hit something that Raze won't be happy about."

Wake winced as the dagger was pulled from his leg. He looked the two of them over and nodded. "Understood."

"Good." She muttered before climbing the stairs quickly to get out of earshot.

"Those two are perfect for each other." Wake quietly said to Raze.

"They're kind of cute." Raze smirked. "And, he reminds me of a certain ship captain from a little over a decade ago."

Wake chuckled and stood up. "And she is like the fiery owner that captain fell in love with." He smirked back at her.

Magdiana collapsed onto the bed, looking up to Astero. "I can't believe him. He's incorrigible. Could you tell how much platinum that was from before?"

"Don't listen to him, he is just an asshole." he sighed, sitting on the bed next to her. "No how much was it?" He asked her.

"Couldn't count it." She shrugged, taking out the bag and pouring the contents on the sheets. It took her only a moment to count. "Fifteen. Gods. That's… insane."

"What did you make?" He asked her looking at the platinum coins, never actually seeing one in person before.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just started speaking in thieves cant to all the customers. Obviously, someone recognized it, and ordered poisons for once. After that, I just made what they ordered. Midnight tears and assassin's blood. Nothing special."

"Well… good job on having connections then… I guess." He said handing her the coin back.

"I feel like this is hush money." She sighed. "I wouldn't have said anything."

"Either way, you got one hell of a good tip." He chuckled.

She nodded. "Alright. Well, I've got two hundred fifty towards the house, then."

"And I am sorely lacking behind now." He sighed lying back on the bed. "It will just take longer is all… just more time."

"Hey, don't sound like that. We're a team are we not? We both need one thousand gold. Together, we have three hundred fifty. That's great." She assured him as she cleaned the coin and started to get changed for bed. "I'm very much looking forward to cuddling tonight." She told him as the dagger holster on her back came off after her over shirt.

He looked at her and smiled. "Yeah. We are a team." he replied, standing up to take off his pants, and to remove his shirt. He walked up and gave her a small kiss. "And I am looking forward to cuddling as well." He smiled as he went to go use the bathroom.

Magdiana continued to disrobe and disarm herself, placing everything in a small pile on one of the chairs before Astero came back out of the bathroom. She traded places with him, quickly cleaning up and seeing Astero already in bed. She climbed in under the covers with him and started to wiggle her way over him to the other side. "Sorry." She apologized as she rubbed against him.

He shook his head. "I'm not complaining." He smirked,wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close to him. "Much better."

"Yeah." She sighed, resting her head on his arm. "This is nice."

"Yeah, you are very comfortable." He said squeezing her lightly.

She smiled, turning her head to kiss him before mumbling. "Goodnight, As. Love you."

"Goodnight Mag." He said kissing her back before she turned around. "Love you."

When Magdiana awoke the following morning, it was dawn, and Astero was holding a very important piece of her while he was sleeping. She resisted the urge to giggle, and glanced outside. It wasn't bright. Only dawn. She closed her eyes and let herself rest some more. She needed it.

Astero awoke feeling very soft and squishy object in his hand. He gave it a few light squeezes trying to figure out what it was before he suddenly realized what he was holding. "Oh…" He said out loud, chuckling a little to himself before letting go. He looked at the time it was only an hour later than he would normally get up, and he wasn't tired. So he decided to just not move, until magdiana awoke. This as comfy enough.

Eventually, Magdiana stretched and groaned. Something firm was behind her. What was that? Her mind wasn't sure. She reached behind her and felt something fabric. She turned over and saw a pair of brown eyes. "Oh, hey, Astero." She said, pulling her hands away. "Sorry for violating you. Wasn't awake."

He chuckled a little. "It's fine… I might have done the same when i woke up." He grinned at her. "I think that makes us even." He giggled.

"Oh, yeah." She smiled. "I woke up at dawn and you were like that." There was a small chuckle. "It was kind of cute."

He leaned in and gave her a kiss. "Thank you. You are very comfortable." he chuckled.

"So are you." She lifted her head. "How's your arm? Is it okay?"

He pulled his arm out and gave it a small stretch. "Yeah it's fine. Not asleep today." he said moving it back underneath her to rest on. "How are you?"

"I could stay like this all day. I'm great." She kissed him slowly, letting herself linger. Her eyes closed when she moved away, and she rested her head on his offered arm.

"Thank makes two of us." He smiled back into the kiss. Enjoying the taste of her lips on his. He stared into her eyes for a long moment, just letting himself get lost. "You are beautiful." He said honestly, not able to lie.

She placed a hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat there. "I love you, Astero… and, if you keep speaking like that…" She blushed, trailing off.

"I love you, Magdiana… and I mean it" He said smiling at her, gently brushing her cheek.

"You're quite handsome yourself, you know that?" She asked. Her legs moved and she found them tangling with his. "Sorry."

"Thank you." he said giving her a small kiss. "And you don't have to apologize. We slept mostly naked next to another. This was inevitable." He chuckled at her.

She nodded. "You don't think this is rushing it? Maybe I should've just kept wearing clothes to bed."

He looked at her and down between the two of them. "It is going faster than I was expecting." He told her honestly. "But I like where we are at."

"I do too." She told him, lifting his shirt and letting her hands run across the planes of his chest. "I really like what I see."

He sighed at the feeling of her cooler skin on his abs. "Oh that feels nice." He moved his free hand over her side, and trailed over her stomach and up to her chest. "And I like what I see too."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It is taking a monumental effort not to jump you." She admitted.

He chuckled at her words. "That is funny. Because I have no issues staying this way right now." He said simply taking in her beauty.

Her eyes opened and gazed into his. "We can't take it back if we do something now." She told him steadily.

He nodded at her. "I know. The second we go follow through. It is all or nothing." He said in understanding.

Magdiana half-whined, half-moaned. "You're evil."

He raised an eyebrow. "What? You want me to say 'lets fuck and get it over with'? Don't get me wrong, you are gorgeous in every sense of the word. And I would be a fucking lunatic to not sleep with this." he said gesturing to all of her. "But… I really am perfectly fine, with laying here next to you. I love you so much... I don't want to sleep with you." He told her honestly.

"That's so sweet." She kissed him lightly. "And, I don't want to fuck and get it over with, but I really need to stop having dreams that star you in them."

He laughed a good bit. "How many nights have you had them?" He asked her seriously.

"That was the second in as many days." She said calmly.

He made a thoughtful face. "Is it just the dreams?" He asked her curiously.

"What do you mean, just the dreams?" She asked. "I mean, I've never really slept and woken up in someone's arms like this night after night. Is that what you're going for?"

"No." He said shaking his head lightly at her. "Do you think us having sex is going to stop the dreams… or... are you open to trying something else?" He asked her, looking over her body a little curiously as he did.

"I don't think having sex will stop the dreams." She shook her head a bit. "What's the something else?"

Astero smirked before quickly making her forget about her earlier troubles; Magdiana helping him in kind. When they were finished, she chuckled. "I need a shower now."

"We both do." He added, looking at the time. "It's already almost noon. Where did the time go?" He said shocked.

She laughed. "We obviously needed the sleep. So much for part three of the plan, though."

"And part two." He chuckled. "Unless brunch is good with you."

"Brunch is always better than breakfast for me until you finally convince me otherwise." She told him honestly.

He sat up a bit to look at her directly. "Oh I will make you a believer." He smiled at her. "But for now, brunch." He said moving down to kiss her. "Now go take a shower." He told her.

"Want to conserve water?" She asked curiously. "I could use my back being scrubbed."

He hummed it over for a moment. "Okay. not that it would have taken much convincing." He chuckled.

She smiled, hopping out of bed. "I can be very persuasive."

"She says swaying her hips as she walks." he smiled at her, before getting out of the bed and following her to the bathroom.

She punctuated his sentence by spanking herself. "Yep." She walked into the bathroom and started the shower, getting it to the comfortable temperature of skin peelingly hot.

He grabbed the faucet and turned it to a more manageable temperature just steaming. "Sorry, but I like my skin attached to my body." He said stepping into the shower to join her.

"Now, it's cold." She half-heartedly complained as she got her hair wet.

He chuckled and brought the temperature up a bit more, before he grabbed a scrubby and began to scrub her back for her, admiring her tattoo. "So why this exactly?" He said lightly tracing the outline on her shoulder blade.

"Oh, it's just a stylized version of my zodiac symbol." She told him simply. "I find it oddly beautiful that, no matter what, everyone in the world falls under one of those categories as it were."

"Huh." He said curiously. "I would have never pegged you for a person like that. Interesting." He said scrubbing down her back.

"You won't find me looking up my horoscope and acting all dodgy because of it, but, yeah…" She shrugged. "Oh, I almost forgot… let me get a good look at yours."

"Oh, yeah." He chuckled, and turned around, to show her the large tattoo of a battle worn direwolf covering the upper portion of his back.

She admired it for a moment before rubbing his back with both hands. "Wow. How long did that take? I don't think any of my pieces amount to anything like that."

"A few months." He told her honestly. "It would have been done sooner, but it was just getting the time to get it done." He said letting his body relax.

"I'm sure you saw the ones on my legs earlier." She smirked. "Unless you were very distracted."

He chuckled. "I was a bit preoccupied, but I glanced at them. Didn't get a good look." He said honestly.

She moved her hip around and pointed to her right outer thigh. "A deck of cards. I really like the phrase, 'leave all the cards on the table'. I'd like to live by that one, if I can." And, then, she pointed to her left ankle. "And a blue raspberry. I thought that it was kinda fun, and lost a bet. So, I had to get another tattoo."

"I never would've bet on a tattoo. But I like them." He said placing a hand over the one on her hip. "I like this one more." He smiled at her, and gave her a small kiss.

"I don't regret the bet. If I didn't want to have a tattoo, I wouldn't have done it." She smiled. "That one is wolf's bane. It's beautiful and poisonous, but it can also be used to cure some things."

"Fitting." He smirked at her. "Well I like them. They all tell a nice story."

"I think that I like your art better, though. It's badass." She said as she lathered shampoo in her hair.

"I got it because I felt like a lone wolf at the time." He said putting shampoo into his hair as well. "And the battle stuff because I was training a fuckton at the time."

She smiled. "You know, lone wolves can challenge a pack alpha so that they can lead a new pack, and, sometimes, they happen upon a…" She blushed. "A breeding female and join a pack that way."

He washed the shampoo out of his hair, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "You know. I think you might be onto something." He said huskily, before smiling and beginning to wash the soap from hair.

She closed her eyes as the soap was washed out. "Thanks." When her hair was done, she looked up at him and stole a kiss. "You need me to scrub anything?"

"Nah. But thank you for offering." He said leaning down to steal a kiss back. "I think we are are pretty clean." He giggled

"I agree." She smiled, turning off the water. "I'm suddenly ravenous."

"Well it's a good thing I know how to cook then. Isn't it?" He smiled at her and stepped out of the shower, holding out a hand for her. "Let's get you fed."

She grabbed his hand. "Yes, please." She said, walking back into the living space. She spotted his closet and opened it, stealing one of his shirts. "Do you mind? It sounds like we're having a lie in today."

He shook his head. "Go for it." he said walking next to her and putting on a shirt, and pulling on a pair of boxers. "I have no intention of leaving today." He said walking to the small kitchen to get food started.

She pulled on the shirt and nothing else before sitting down at the coffee table and starting to work on the puzzle again. "I guess that I didn't realize that you could cook in this room." She laughed. "Half expected to go out last night."

"I didn't realize I could until only recently." He said cracking some eggs into a pan. "It was either cook here, or in the busy kitchen downstairs… I chose here." He laughed.

"That's a good call." She laughed. "You know, staying up here all day is going to make Wake even more annoying tomorrow, right?"

Astero sighed a bit, as he chopped up some bacon into small pieces. "Yeah… but I think we can take him. We are both adults anyway, he should stay out of our business."

She nodded. "Once again, I agree. What I'm afraid of is that he's going to tell my parents and activate the freak out of the century."

"I don't think he will stoop that low. I think he likes to stir up shit, just not of that grand a scale." He said starting to toast some bread.

"I think that he's going to keep pushing us with the innuendos until either we hurt him enough to make him stop or we confirm it." She rolled her eyes.

He placed the food onto two plates and sprinkled some shredded cheese on top. He walked over next to her, and placed the plate in front of her. "One bacon and cheese omelette with a side of toast." He smiled sitting down next to her. "Enjoy."

She looked at the food and stabbed it with her fork, biting into it and humming. "Not bad." She said. "Guess we'll have to see how I feel at an earlier hour."

"I look forward to it." He grinned at her.

"Do you know where to go in town for adventuring information? I haven't noticed any guilds or sign postings." She said.

He thought for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, there is a little place farther up on the docks. I passed by there getting food for the store." He explained.

"Oh, I didn't realize you did the shopping too." She said. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah need to make sure that the ingredients are fresh." He said taking a bite of toast. "Yeah I like it. I get to cook." He smiled.

"I can tell that you like to do that." She laughed, taking another bite. "I'll cook for you sometime. It won't be phenomenal, but it's edible. You deserve to know the pain you have to endure if this is a long term deal."

He smiled at her. "Alright, but just wait until after we get a place. That way I can stock the kitchen before hand. Make sure you have everything you need to make it… okay." He chuckled.

"Such the gentleman." She chuckled. "You can just say it. You want to make sure there's two bathrooms for when I make both of us sick."

"I believe you won't do that." He chuckled. "You would need to be horrid in the kitchen to do that." He laughed. "You don't seem like that type."

"I'm not that bad. I just have no confidence and it shows." She laughed, taking another big bite of food.

He raised an eyebrow as he took a bit of his omelette. "Let me guess. Salt and pepper type of girl, and whatever is easiest? Right?" He asked seriously.

"Right in one." She laughed.

"That's fine." He chuckled pointing to their plates. "That's what these are. Literally three ingredients." He deadpanned.

She nodded. "I guess that, after making elaborate potions, remedies, and poisons every day, I just want to go home and be easy."

He nodded in agreement. "Yup. Preaching to the choir on that one."

She facepalmed. "That was stupid. Duh."

He leaned in a gave her a peck on the cheek. "You are fine." he chuckled. "Now finish your food, so we can actually finish the puzzle." He smiled at her.

She nodded, taking one last bite and handing him the plate. "Thank you." She said.

"Your welcome." He said taking her plate, and going to wash them. He came back and sat down next to her to help her. "So where did we leave off?" He asked, looking at the progress.

"You were doing the border, which is almost done, and I was starting to sort the boat pieces and build those." She smiled.

"Alright then." He nodded, going back to work on the borders putting the pieces together as he went.

She started to piece together the boat from yesterday. "Where in town should we look for a house?"

"Probably somewhere close to both of our jobs. And your parents house." He said looking at her. "So long as you want to stay close to them."

"I'm not sure that I want to be as far out of town as they are." She told him. "I like the space they have, but that's about it"

"Okay so closer to town then." He said simply. "I don't need much space, just a big kitchen." He said honestly.

"And a nice sized yard." She reminded him. "For spars and such."

He smiled at her. "Okay then, I can live with that." He smirked, connecting two edges together.

She smiled. "Should be easy enough. And, we might be able to find it for a good price based on the location. I bet there's not a lot of demand near where we work."

"We should check out there either on our way to or from work, assuming we get the chance." He explained.

"I can direct my 10k in that direction. Maybe, I'll see something." She finished the first boat, and looked to Astero. "When do you-" She started to say as the sounds of knocking came from the room door.

Astero stood up and went to the door. He looked through the eye hole and saw Wake. "What the fuck is he doing here?" he said to himself before looking to mag. "Go into the bathroom, Wake is here." He whispered to her.

Magdiana crept over to the bathroom without a word, closing the door silently behind her and leaving the room dark.

Astero cracked the door open and looked at Wake. "Yes Wake? What can I do for you?" He asked, clearly looking annoyed.

Wake looked at Astero curiously. "We wanted to make sure you were okay. We never saw you come down this morning." He smirked. "Wanted to make sure you two were fine."

He sighed and looked back at the tiefling. "Yes I am fine, and am by myself." He growled.

"And your attire?" Wake asked, looking at his lack of clothing.

Astero shook his head. "It's my day off man… I don't plan on leaving this room until at least tomorrow. So I don't care how I look." he told him honestly.

Wake frowned and sighed. "Well fine… sorry for disturbing you on your day off." He said turning. "Enjoy the rest of it."

"Will do." astero said shutting the door with a loud thud. He walked over to the bed and sat down. He waited a minute before talking. "He's gone." He called to Mag.

She work quietly opened the door and padded over to the bed. "Thanks."

Downstairs, Raze leaned on the counter in boredom. "See anything good?"

Wake leaned on the counter and whisper to her. "Well, unless Astero is into drag, i saw a pile of female clothes on a chair with a large amount of daggers." He grinned widely, his tail swaying back and forth.

"They're more transparent than a gelatinous cube." She laughed.

"Oh. this is a good story, so fresh!" He said giddy.

"So much better than my books. I'm afraid to read the ending, though." Raze said. "I like happy endings."

"All endings are good endings." he said to her. "It just depends on which side you see it from." He smiled at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't make me change my mind. Now, do tell, how will we learn more if they will not speak with us?"

"Oh that is simple. We ask around. I still need to talk to Marius afterall." He smiled widely

She eyed him. "Do not get her in trouble. This is my best source of entertainment while you're away."

He shook his head at her. "Oh gods no. what they do behind closed doors is their business." he said simply. "Their actions however can be seen by those around them." He smirked.

"I… do not follow." She replied.

"You said that mag has been staying here a few nights in a row right?" He asked her.

"Well, unless there's a portal between her bedroom and here, yes, I believe that's the case." She huffed.

"Then how do you think her parents are feeling, or her brother?" he asked her. "Maybe I go get some lunch and see what the new cook is like, or get a potion. People do love to talk." He smiled widely.

Her smile widened. "Oh, you devious bastard."

"And that is why you love me." He said stealing a kiss from her. "Now if you excuse me, im going to get some lunch." He said prancing his way to the door.

She followed him, pushing him out of the inn. "Don't come back until you have juicy details!"

"Will do!" He said almost skipping away.

Astero looked to magdiana. "No problem. I didn't want him to see you in just my shirt." He chuckled.

"No, this is for your eyes alone." She smiled.

"I am okay with this, literally any day of the week." He said honestly.

"The real thing that would've bothered me had he seen is the lack of underwear." She admitted. "Again, that's only for you."

"My response is the same." He smiled at her.

She kissed him. "Good. Now, should we get back to the puzzle?"

He pulled her close and hummed it over for a moment, and shook his head a bit. "Nah… Wake kinda killed the vibe. I think we should figure out how to get him back. After he was snooping around here." He grinned mischievously.

She rubbed her hands together. "Finally, a worthy prank war opponent."

He laughed at the face she made. "Of course you are ready to do this." He smiled at her. "So, I am pretty sure the man doesn't sleep. So anything involving sleep is off the table." He sighed a bit. "Any ideas?"

"Do we know if anybody stays with his ship when he's here?" She smirked.

"I don't… but I don't think it would be too hard to find out." He smirked back. "What are you planning?"

"Booby trap the hell out of the captain's quarters." She smiled.

"So he would get caught on the first trap, and he would quickly find the rest." He sighed lightly.

She smiled. "Right in one."

"And what will we do about that?" He asked raising an eyebrow at the face she made.

"Well, it wasn't us who did it. We'll have to help him find the culprit." She said innocently.

"Oh…" He said shocked at her response. " You are evil, and I love you." He said leaning in and kissing her.

"Thank you." She smirked. "Whichever mischievous god is looking out for me is probably proud."

"Very." He smiled. "Looking at you in awe."

She gave him a small kiss. "Did you ever get a look at the captain's quarters? We can start planning the attack. Oh, I'm glad I have a lot of trip wire."

"No, I only ever saw his door. Never actually been inside of it." He frowned, until he thought of a plan. "But you could get in there." He smiled back at her.

"I can get most places." She nodded. "You are pretty observant, right? Can you be a good lookout while I go investigate?"

"I can. But I was planning on distracting Wake, while you scope the place out. But if you want me to help you, I will be there." He told her honestly.

She smirked. "No, you run interference. I like that plan. That way, he won't even be thinking about his ship."

He nodded. "Alright then, now all we need to figure out is when?" He asked her.

"When does he leave next? He can't retaliate if he's gone." She looked like the cat that got the canary.

"Gods I hope it's soon." He smiled widely. "How about tomorrow morning? I will go down and talk up the two of them. And you can go scout the ship?"

"Yes." She smirked, pulling him in for a hug. "This will be awesome."

He hugged her back. "It will." He said softly. "You might have to sneak out the window tomorrow morning though… wake still thinks you are not here." He sighed.

"That's an average second day." She smiled, glancing out the window. "Oh, yeah, I'll be fine."

"Okay good." He smiled, and gave her a small kiss. "Then you can come back and meet me, so we can go and find an adventuring job." He told her.

"Worth all the gold." She smirked. "Maybe it'll be out of town and we can go camping again. Except more fun."

"That sounds fun." He smirked, pulling her next to him. "It could be interesting." He said in a sultry voice.

She eyed him up and down. "Are you about to make a fucking in tents pun?"

"Well not anymore." He chuckled.

She leaned into him and whispered in his ear. "I don't want our first time together to be in a tent. I want it to be… special, I guess."

He nodded. "I understand." He said honestly. "I don't want it to be in a tent either. I want it to be… right. We will know when that is."

"And, not next week." She made a face.

"Let me guess… shark week?" He sighed.

"I don't know. I thought you could tell just by the way I move? Thanks for oversharing that with Wake." She sighed.

He sighed. "Sorry… it took me a while to figure out, but yeah… it adds up." He said, making a face.

She kissed him. "Yeah, it's next week."

"Well, go me." He said sarcastically. "I know when your body hates you."

"At least we're not fighting each other right now. Otherwise, I'd be more stabby than normal." She giggled.

"I am so glad that we are doing much better." He giggled kissing her nose.

She laughed at the kiss. "The good news is… not pregnant. Not that I did anything to possibly get pregnant, but I am too young to be a mom."

"I am also glad. I don't want to be a dad any time in the near future." He chuckled back.

She blushed, looking up at him. "Uh, do you know the spell or…?"

"I do." He said honestly. "Don't worry, I won't forget to use it."

"I wasn't worried about that. There are herbs to prevent it. I just don't have any right now." She was even pinker now.

"Hey." He said looking into her eyes. "Calm down. We have to get everything we need before we do it. It's not like we're going to do it tonight." He chuckled softly at her.

She shook her head. "No, it's not that. Just… getting used to talking about it with you."

He blinked a few times at her. "You are sitting next to me, wearing my shirt and literally nothing else." He said lifting the shirt a bit to prove a point. "It shouldn't be that bad to talk about that stuff. It normal things that happen." He said honestly.

"As… I'm not a talker. I'm a doer. It's easier for me to do something than say it to your face." She looked up at him seriously, climbing into his lap and kissing him soundly. "That was easy. Telling you that I can prevent pregnancy with herbs… not easy."

He gently rubbed her back. "Don't worry, I will help you with that. We will just start talking about literally everything. Eventually, you will be able to tell me anything you want to." He smiled at her, kissing her in kind.

"You might have trouble getting me to shut up." She laughed.

"I think I can handle it." He smirked.

"Well, it's your funeral." She joked. "Prepare for some serious too much information moments if that's what you really want."

He shrugged his shoulders. "So long as you aren't explaining your bathroom schedule I think I will manage." He smirked.

"Eww, no. Astero, that is gross." She made a face. "You fuck."

"I dated crazy… you are several steps away from that." He said leaning his head on her. "I will manage."

She grabbed his arms and pushed him into the bed, pinning him down. Then, she leaned into his ear and whispered. "I don't know… I think I can be pretty crazy."

He looked her dead in the eyes, and flipped her off of him, before pinning her to the bed. "True, but I know how to deal with you." He smirked, kissing her lightly.

"Hey, there could've been daggers involved." She shrugged.

Astero summoned his dagger and gently set it on her chest. "There is always a dagger within arms reach of me." He smiled.

"I need to learn that trick." She murmured.

"Maybe I can teach you one day." He smirked, getting off of her.

"Ah, yes. I could be a rogue, cleric, fighter." She smirked. "Nobody will stand a chance… except you."

"I would be fine with that." He smirked back.

She looked at him oddly. "Really?" She asked.

"Why not?" He asked her seriously. "If you want to be a force of nature, i'm not going to stop you… I think it would be rather hot to see." He smirked at her.

"Let me properly wrap my head around that before I commit." She told him. "The idea is… intriguing. More daggers."

"That you could potentially summon back to you." He added.

She leaned in to his ear and whispered, "Extra attacks."

He smirked. "That depends on how far you want to go with it." He said looking into her eyes.

"I think that I want to heal more first." She said. "A restoration spell would be nice."

"Okay." He said simply. "At the end of the day, I am okay with whatever you want to do."

"If I get to the point that I can attack like you, I'm going to need more daggers. I could throw… twelve in about six seconds." She tried to do the math.

He thought it over for a moment. "If I keep going the way I am going… I should be able to attack about nine times in six seconds… with my greatsword." He smirked.

"That's… a lot of pain." She eyed him. "I'm glad you're on my side." Her head came to rest on his shoulder.

"And I'm glad your with me." He said kissing her softly on the head.

"We've got to get back to spar with Wake soon. I feel like I'm losing my edge." She told him. "I know that I'm still training, but, with the two of us not sparring…" She trailed off.

"Yeah…" he sighed slightly. "When you come back to meet me after checking out Wake's ship, we will ask when our next sparring match will be." He told her.

She suddenly remembered something. "I almost forgot to ask. How many days do you have off?"

"Today, tomorrow, and the day after that. Why?" He asked her.

"I wanted to see if we had the same schedule. Honestly, it was a selfish wish to have more time with you." She responded.

"No it wasn't." He chuckled. "I was hoping for the same thing." He replied.

She grabbed his hand. "Well, I'm pleased to inform you that we have the same schedule. On for seven, off for three."

"Sweet!" He smiled widely. "More time to talk to you."

"More time to prank Wake into oblivion, do adventuring gigs, and figure out the whole… magicky bullshit." She paused a minute. "And, the relationship thing. Still getting used to that."

"All relationships have bumps at the beginning… we will get through it." he said holding her. "The magicky stuff, either one of your parents can help you there. I might be able to help a little, but not much." He shrugged.

"Can I try something?" She asked.

"What is it?" He asked her.

She grabbed his hand, and pulled him from the bed towards the bathroom. As they walked past the chair with her things on it, she grabbed a dagger. When they got to the bathroom, she shut the door, leaving the light off. He moved to turn on the light, but she stopped him. "Don't turn it on. I want to see if I can repeat that glowy thing from last night."

"Oh…" He said in understanding. "Well go ahead."

She remembered the feeling from yesterday- of wanting him to see, and she took that feeling, thinking hard on the dagger. Nothing happened. This lasted for several minutes until, eventually, she saw the dagger flicker to life. "I still don't know what I did."

"Well, if need to cast it. I say words." He told her. "But it has been a while since I cast it." He told her honestly.

"You can cast it? What words do you say?" She asked.

"Uh… light." He said with a raised eyebrow. 'Like I said it has been awhile. I don't actually have it anymore."

She thought about what he said and willed the dagger to go dark again before she said, "Light." A moment later, the dagger lit up. "Son of a bitch."

"Hey, you did it!" He said happy for her. "Good job."

"Thank you." She put the dagger down, looking at him in the dim light. She waved her hand like she'd practiced in Yutan, and her eyes glowed while a slight breeze picked up. "I can really put on a show, now."

He smiled at her, and gave a small bow. "The ringmaster is in." He chuckled, and waved a hand, making a small flower appear.

She reached to grab the flower, and felt that it was actually there in his hands until he let go of it. "Wow."

"Oh yeah. It is my favorite cantrip. So many uses." He smiled.

"Don't write me a dissertation, but what all does it do?" She asked.

"Well I can make sparks, wind, light a candle, clean or dirty something, warm up a drink, make a mark appear, or make small trinkets." He explained simply. "Lots of uses."

She nodded. "That's so versatile. I'm jealous."

"It has come in handy on more than one occassion." He chuckled.

"I can imagine. The cleaning must be really nice, though. You said you use it for laundry." She commented. "I should have more cantrips… right?"

"Well… that differs. I only know two, where as a sorcerer knows a fuck ton." He chuckled.

She looked at her hands. "I'll probably be somewhere in between, then. I'm sure it'll crop up eventually."

He gently grabbed her hands, leaned in close. "You will. I know it."

"Thank you… for being here for all of this. It feels like puberty again. It's like the worst drug trip of my life, except it hasn't ended." She looked into his eyes earnestly.

"You're welcome." He said softly to her, and gave her a hug. "No matter what, I will be here, right next to you."

She just held him for a minute. "I'm really afraid I'll accidentally smite someone again. I really hurt my Dad. I don't want to hurt you."

He held her a little tighter. "You will get the hang of all this," He told her. "And don't worry about me, you know damn well I can take a hit." He smiled down at her.

She nodded, letting out a little sigh. "Okay." She let go just as her stomach growled. Then, let out a giggle. "Dinner?"

Astero laughed. "Yes… I will make dinner. What would you like?" He asked her.

"Pasta… with chicken." She answered honestly.

He thought for a moment. "A red, or a cheese sauce?" He asked her in response.

"Surprise me. I'm not picky." She told him.

"Okay then." He smiled, and gave her a small kiss. "Then let us leave the bathroom, we have already spent too much time in here together today." He chuckled, opening the door.

She looked at him with an appraising eye as she picked up the glowing dagger. "We didn't even do anything in the bathroom. When that happens, we'll have to break in all of the surfaces." She watched him for his reaction.

He turned and looked at her for a moment, before nodding and continuing to the kitchen. "All right, just know that neither one of us will be sleeping that night." He smirked back at her.

"Two words. Restoration spells." She replied simply.

"Then I hope you learn them soon." He chuckled, getting some items prepared for the meal.

"I'll be honest… if you keep me up all night like that… it would be a first." She told him, laying on her stomach on the bed and watching him cook.

He continued to work on the prep for the chicken, but turned back to look at her. "I am sorry for you." He said honestly. "That's not fair on you."

She cocked her head. "How so? I've been pretty fortunate to have lovers that have been… very giving as far as my needs go. So what nobody's had the stamina to fuck me through the night?"

"Well yes. Also, at least what I have been told, It is a completely different experience." He said cutting the chicken into small bits.

"When the time comes, I'll happily stay up all night making sweet love to you." She promised.

"Good, I am glad to hear." He smiled blowing her a small kiss.

She mimed catching the kiss and smacked it into her ass. "Whoops." She joked.

He chuckled, and tossed the chicken into the pan to cook. He quickly washed his hands and looked at her. "Try not to miss this one." He smiled blowing another kiss.

She caught this kiss and pressed it to her chest before starting to blow a kiss to him and lobbing it at him as hard a she could. "Gotcha." She laughed.

He jumped into the air and caught the kiss, and pressed it to his chest. "Got it." He smiled at her, before turning and adding some cheese and a small bit of milk to the pan as the chicken.

"I'm very competitive, and that could start to involve acrobatics one day." She commented. "Not when we're on the second floor above somebody."

He smiled at her. "Then let's keep it to a minimum… for now." He chuckled, filling a small pot with water and setting it on the stove.

She nodded. "As much as I like it here, I'm anxious to have that house. More room to… I don't know… words are failing me."

"Play?" He asked her, turning the heat down on the chicken and adding a few spices to it.

"I guess play works." She told him. "It's hard to use that word as an adult. Feels weird. But, I do feel freer to goof around with you."

He added the pasta to the water, and walked over to her. "I'm happy you are comfortable around me." He said leaning on the bed and giving her a small kiss. "And to goof around with me." He smirked.

"I would hope that, after knowing someone for the majority of my life, I would be comfortable around them." She smirked, bopping his nose lightly with her pointer finger.

"I was honestly expecting a much longer transition." He said truthfully. "But it helps when we both have similar experiences, running away together being one." He smirked back, playfully smacking her butt. "I bet the ladies in Yutan are jealous of you."

"I bet the men in Yutan are jealous of you." She smirked. "I know how they looked at me. I'm not stupid. And, the ladies, yeah… you were very sought after. As for the comfortabilitly… I'm sure we'll have growing pains eventually, but it's really nice right now."

"It is." he replied with a nod. "And yes, the men would eye fuck you on a daily basis." he chuckled. "They had some interesting thoughts."

She raised an eyebrow. "Thoughts? Oh, this I have to hear. Locker room talk."

"Yup." he nodded. "Some of them thought you were into women, some of them thought you could bend over bend over backwards. And they would ask me if any of that was true." He sighed.

She laughed. "Not into women. Just not into them either, and, yes, I can bend over backwards."

"Really?!" He asked shocked. "I heard that was a joke." He said honestly.

She climbed out of bed and over to the chair, digging her underwear out of the pile. She pulled them on. "I'll prove it, but don't want to give the show of your lifetime either."

He sat down on the bed and watched. "No matter if they were on or off, I still want to see it. I have never seen it done before." he said honestly.

She moved into an open space in the room and arched back, spotting with her head arched back and landing with her hands on the floor. She walked around a moment before kicking off and walking on her hands for a moment. "Part of the 'take down Astero' training." She said. "I used to do hand handstand push ups, but have kind of fallen out of the habit."

He placed his head in his hands for a moment, and watched her. "Huh… I'm the reason you can do that." He said musing to himself. "I feel honored." He smiled at her, before standing up and walking to the stove to take the pasta off the heat and straining it.

"Yes, you are the reason I'm so bendy." She blushed. "That's not what I meant to say."

He plated the food, and brought two plates over to the small table. "Well, thank you for showing me." He said sitting down. "I'm actually surprised I never noticed it sooner." He said patting the seat next to him for her to sit.

She walked over to him, taking her seat and the plate. "Thank you for dinner, and I would be happy to show you just how flexible I can be." She winked.

He turned to look at her. "Yes, please." He grinned back. "But after you eat the food. I worked hard on it, I hope you like it."

"If it tastes half as good as it smells, I'm sure it's delicious." She told him, digging in and moaning. "Oh, I love you."

"So that's a yes?" He asked rhetorically, chuckling to himself.

"I would do very sexual things for this food." She laughed.

"I am flattered." He smiled at her. "And I always do accept tips." He smirked, taking a bit.

She kissed him lightly. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome." He smiled back, digging into the food.

"Did a woman's clothes ever just fall off after eating your food because I would understand." She asked him, taking another bite.

"Actually. No." He said honestly. "Not very many people knew I could cook. You, Anne, and like one elder knew." He told her. "I don't really cook for people that often."

She chewed and swallowed before speaking. "Well, now I feel special, but, seriously, you would be drowning in pussy."

"Yeah… but then I would be dead." He joked. "Not really able to cook if I am dead."

"I would happily resurrect the maker of food and generous bringer of orgasms." She couldn't keep a straight face and snorted.

Astero choked a bit on his food, but quickly fixed himself. "I'm glad, because you almost had to." He chuckled.

She frowned. "I'm not that good, yet. Nor do I have diamonds."

"Hey. I am fine." He smiled at her. "Just caught me off guard is all." he said honestly.

"Noted. No sex jokes during meal times. Will kill the boyfriend." She suddenly tensed. Did he hear that word? Did he agree with that word? She slowly turned her head to look at him. "Sorry."

He turned to look at her. "Sorry for what? Almost killing me… or calling me the boyfriend?" He asked her with a smirk.

"Yes." She deadpanned.

He shrugged. "Well… I am alive, so I'm fine with that. No apologies need there… " He trailed off for a moment thinking over in his head if it sounded right in his head. "I don't mind it… so long as I get to call you 'the girlfriend'." He chuckled at her.

She blushed deeply. "That's fine… there was a time that I would've settled for 'the fuck buddy'."

He raised an eyebrow at her, and turned to face her. "Now, I know you had a crush on me for a while. But when did it become 'more than a crush'?" He asked her.

She thought for a long moment. "Do you remember that fight that I cut your chest pretty deep? We had to stitch it shut because neither of us could afford a cleric?"

He nodded and rubbed his chest a bit. "Yeah, it hurt to breathe for a while after that." He replied.

"The next day… you treated me… I don't know. With a respect I didn't expect." She told him. "It was around then, I guess."

"Huh, I wasn't expecting you to go that far. I realised you had the tenacity to do what it took to win." He said honestly. "I was impressed if nothing else."

"It was that day… when you looked at me like- an equal. That's when I realized it wasn't a crush anymore." She mumbled, taking a large bite of food.

"Well… you have me all to yourself now." He said taking a bit of his food as well.

She took a minute to chew before looking at him seriously. "Good. Because I'm territorial and will cut bitches."

"Thank the gods Grace is married then." He chuckled.

She laughed. "She never did get the hint that you just weren't into her. Pretty sure she fucked one of your friends to make you jealous, which didn't work and forced the marriage."

He laughed. "Really? Huh, I meant the one I work with, but that is fucking funny!" He chuckled.

"Oh." She facepalmed. "I didn't know her name, As. But, yeah, the Grace from Yutan totally had it for you."

"Well I be damned. It's fine though, from what I heard of her, she was a bit too clingy." He shivered.

"Stage five clinger for sure." She laughed.

He smiled, and took a few more bits of his food. "So have you got any questions for me?" He asked her. "I bet you plenty of them."

"A few." She smirked. "You asked me, but never told me… what's the kinkiest thing you've ever done?"

"Had sex in a room full of sleeping people." He told her. "She was really ready to go, and didn't care if anyone found out." He said honestly.

She shook her head in a bit of wonder. "Wow. I thought the knife play was a lot."

"Yeah… she got off, but I couldn't. It was too much." He said shaking his head.

"This isn't a trick question. I swear, but… how many?" She asked quietly.

"Other women?" He asked her.

"Yeah." She nodded.

He thought it over for a minute. "Before you… six." He said honestly.

She smiled at him. "I have been with three, but I did go down on a couple others."

"Same." He replied. "At least two women I went down on."

"I think it was four. The experience wasn't good enough to want to go farther with most of them." She shrugged, putting her empty plate on the table.

"Yeah. it helps if it is memorable." He chuckled, finishing his plate and taking hers and going to wash them.

"I can do those, if you want. You've been catering to me all day." She offered.

"I don't mind doing them, but you can help if you like," He said moving over a bit for her.

She walked over and hip bumped him out of the way. "You can dry, mister prestidigitation."

He smiled and scooped a small amount of bubbles and placed them on her nose. "Okay then." He smirked.

She wiped her nose on his shirt. "Rude." She laughed.

He waved a hand and dried the spot she made. "It could have been much worse." he chuckled waiting for the dishes.

She started to clean the dishes, and handed them to him when she was done. "This isn't so bad when there's pleasant company."

He took the dishes and dried them with a wave of his hand as he got them. He set them to the side, and looked at her. "It really makes a huge difference." He said in agreement.

"When my parents freak out about us living together, what will you tell my dad?" She asked.

"That I will try to keep her out of trouble." He chuckled.

She laughed. "Dork."

"Well I know you can take care of yourself. And if the brief meeting I had with your mother is anything to go by. I might have my hands full." He laughed.

She looked at him seriously. "I'm not sure if I should be insulted or flattered."

"You have the same ferocity that she had when she stared at wake." He said seeing the same look in her eyes now. "It is terrifyingly beautiful." He said stealing a quick kiss from her.

"Thank you. I don't feel very beautiful with this hair, to be honest." She sighed. "But, it'll grow back."

He brushed some hair behind her ear. "It will, and I like it, no matter which way you have it." He told her honestly.

She dried a hand and ran it through his hair. "I think I like yours shorter, though. Maybe with a beard."

He rubbed his chin a bit. "That will take some time, it grows really slowly on me." He said making a face. "That why I just shave it."

"It's not a problem." She waved her hand, going back to doing the dishes. "It'll grow faster when you're older."

"I'm hoping." He said honestly. "I would like to have one one day."

"It would make you look very rugged… panty droppingly so." She laughed, handing him another dish.

He took the dish, and quickly dried it. "Well, between the food and the beard, you will just never wear panties again apparently." He joked.

"Hells, I've been considering getting rid of them for years. Nothing quite like starting a fight with a flip and having them up your ass for the rest of it." She sighed.

"Okay… not around the house then." He corrected himself.

"Oh, yeah, between those two things…" She shook her head and shrugged. "I'd be an idiot to wear underwear around the house."

He took the next dish and quickly dried it. "Im joking." He chuckled at her. "I don't care what you wear around the place."

"Probably the same as usual or one of your shirts." She said honestly. "It is very comfortable."

"I bet." He said looking her over briefly. "Glad to know you like to keep things simple."

"It wouldn't be me if I suddenly started wearing lingerie or something. Tell me… if I suddenly wore the world's skimpiest outfit and presented myself on the bed? What would you do? Because the idea in my head is laughable." She told him.

"Well I don't know what that would look like, but it would probably be the same if you wore a shirt or a dress." He told her.

She sauntered up to him and whispered to him. "But, would it be anything like me to do that? Or would I walk over to you like I am now and tell you that I need you?"

He ran his hands up her legs and her back under her shirt. "The outcome would be the same. I would take you where you stood." He said in a voice that meant more than just his words.

She kissed him. "Well, I think one of them is more… real."

"I honestly would take the shirt over lingerie any day. You don't have to go all out to impress me, just keep doing what you are doing." He smiled, and kissed her back before finishing the dishes and taking a seat.

She smiled at him, looking at him with an indecipherable look that said everything and nothing. She sighed before sitting down next to him and changing the subject. "We've got a busy day tomorrow. But, I really did enjoy today. I haven't had a day without daggers strapped to me since… I can't even remember. Before I was a teenager?"

He smiled. "Well I am glad I could be of service. I hope we have many more days like this in the future."

"Lazy days with no training. Huh. Almost expected to train more. Or, at least, train together. Care for doing 10ks?" She joked.

"I'm down. Let's just not turn them into races." he chuckled at her. "We can still train together, hell's it will probably help us. I still don't know your workout routine."

She nodded. "I do a 10k just about every day. Stretches, body weight exercises, practice throwing, practice flipping, and, until recently, would finish the day sparring you."

"Okay, I have a similar workout. The only real difference is that I change the throwing practice, and flipping practice, to sword and boxing practice." He told her.

"Ugh. Striking is my weakness. I'm better off with a dagger." She complained. "I can bludgeon the hell outta someone with the hilt of one."

"I know. I was on the receiving end." He chuckled. "I do need to work on my flexibility, you being able to out maneuver me has been an annoyance for a while." He said honestly.

She smirked. "Yeah. It's annoying, but you know what else it is?"

"What is that?" He asked her.

"Lucky for you." She winked. "In the future."

"Oh, I fully intend on finding out." He grinned back.

She leaned into him and yawned. "I'll do the windy thing you like."

He leaned his head on hers. "And I'll make sure you get the full course."

"Course?" She asked. "You heard that I've done things before, yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "But not mine." He smirked.

She shrugged. "Alright. Well, I'm down."

He nodded, and gave her a small kiss. "I am glad."

"I'm trying not to be too intense right now. Failing." She fell back onto the bed.

"I could tell. That's why I pushed like I did." He told her honestly.

"You have officially piqued my roguish curiosity." She told him. "But I will be good and wait." She yawned again. "Is it bed time?"

He smiled and laid down next to her, wrapping an arm around her. "Yeah it is." he said pulling the covers over them. "You get some sleep." He whispered to her.

"Sleep well, As." She murmured with closed eyes.

"Will do. Sleep well, Mag." He said giving her a small kiss. "Love you."

She would've replied had she been conscious. Instead, he was greeted by the quiet sounds of her snores.

He smiled as he heard her snores, and closed his eyes. He wasn't overly tired just yet, but her being close to him helped him relax. He felt his breathing slowing, and in a few short minutes, he was sleeping peacefully next to her.


	8. Initiative

Wake walked down the street with a noticeable skip to his step. He was on his way to go get lunch at a certain restaurant, where a certain young man had recently been employed. He entered the store, and walked up to the counter. "Hello!" He said with a smile.

Grace smiled back at Wake. "Hello sir. How can I help you today?" She asked him, not knowing who he was.

"I was thinking about getting a sandwich." He told her. "Whatever the chef recommends." He said idly.

She hummed for a moment. "Well, the head chef isn't today, but I will get you something good." She smiled heading to the back.

Wake smiled and sat down, waiting idly for the woman to return with his food. He looked around and saw that the place was relatively quiet.

Grace came back a moment later and handed him the sandwich. "Here you go sir. Enjoy." She smiled.

"Thank you kindly." Wake said taking a bit of the sandwich. He nodded in approval. "This is good."

"It's okay… our head chef is much better." She smiled.

Wake smiled back at her. "Oh really? How so?" He asked leaning in.

"Well, for starters, he is the one who does all the baking. so, when he is in the bread is phenomenal!" She smiled back.

"Man, he must have a pretty lucky lady." He grinned, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Oh, yeah. They are adorable. He gives her sweets when she stops by for lunch." She shyly smiled. "Actually a little jealous."

Wake looked intrigued by the new information he learned about the boy. "Don't worry dear, I'm sure you will be shown the same courtesy." He said pointing to the ring on her finger.

Grace smiled back. "Thank you sir." She said standing up and moving to go clean. "Do enjoy the rest of your meal."

He nodded back, and quickly finished the rest of his meal. He left a tip on the table and bid her adieu. Leaving the restaurant with even more spring in his step.

Wake had to resist the urge to let his tail swing back and forth in glee. This information gathering mission was just too good. Now that he knew more about Astero, it was time to go see Magdiana's employer. He should also go check in with Marius as well. As far as he knew, Magdiana hadn't been home in several days, and he was sure that her parents would be growing concerned. He tutted to himself. Kids. Always making their parents worry.

He quickly made it to the small shop that the girl worked at, strolling in at a leisurely pace and eyeing the different cures and potions. He wasn't surprised to see that not much had changed about the shop since his last visit. She hadn't been there that long in order to make changes. When he made it to the front, a girl was manning the front. She looked bored with her head resting in her hand as she leaned on the counter. "Welcome in." She said lazily.

"Hello, there, my dear. You're not the young lady from the other day." He commented, watching carefully for a response.

"Ugh, not you too." She huffed. "What's so special about the new girl? I haven't even met her. She works shifts opposite me."

Wake didn't grace her with a response. "No matter. Is the owner in? I have some questions about a special order."

"Sure." She sighed, turning around and shouting into the back. "Charles! Customer!"

Charles looked visibly irritated when the girl went to the back to work on his remedies while he dealt with the customer. He sighed, and said things under his breath that Wake couldn't hear. "I'm sorry about her… She's not a real go-getter. How can I help you, sir?"

"Whatever happened to the girl from a few days ago? The one with the unpronounceable name?" Wake asked with a small secretive smirk.

"Oh, Magdiana? She's got a couple days off. She'll be back next week." Charles explained. "I must've been in the back when you last came in. I never forget a face."

"Yes, that one. She is much better than your other helper. More pleasant." Wake commented, hoping that the man would be forthcoming with information.

Charles took the bait, and started to divulge, "She is. Came from another shop with quite the skill set. Says she can make a supreme healing potion, though I'm afraid to ask her to."

Wake's eyebrow cocked. "Oh, really? And, why is that? Afraid to be making money?"

"Afraid that she's going to make enough money to start her own shop and put me out of business, more like." He laughed. "Now, what is this about a special order?"

"Ah, yes, you see, I'm looking for something a little more… lethal. Do you have anything like that?" He asked simply.

Charles nodded. "Well, you've come to the right place… just not at the right time. Again, that's Magdiana's realm. What sort are you looking for? Ingested, Inhaled, Contact, or Injury? Do you have a price range you're looking for?"

"Injury based. Keep it under 500 gold, if you can." He responded. "Tell her to go crazy."

Charles made a face. "I'm afraid to tell her that too. Come back in… let's say five days. It should be done by then."

Wake nodded, pulling out his coin purse. "Do you require half up front?"

"For first time customers, but, since you've shopped with us before, I can take a quarter." Charles offered.

"I insist." Wake said, counting out 25 platinum pieces and handing it to the man. "I will see you in a few days."

With that, Wake turned around to leave. His ears twitched when he heard the sounds of the female shopkeep in the back. Magdiana was definitely an improvement over… that. He smirked to himself, making a secret bet that Magdiana would be needing to work some long work weeks very soon. He just couldn't see the other girl making it much longer given her… enthusiasm. He turned down the street towards his workplace. Or, rather, his employer, and strode his way confidently into Marius's office, falling back into a seat, and putting his feet up on the table in a very comfortable manner. "Marius. Long time. No see." The tiefling smirked, looking at the half-elf appraisingly.

Marius looked up at Wake with tired eyes. "Hey wake. How have you been?" He asked with a yawn.

"Oh, I have been wonderful." He smirked, eyeing the man. "Really, today has been nothing but a job well done."

"Good. I am glad to hear." He replied, going over some paperwork. "Any new stories to share?" He asked knowing the man well.

Wake nodded. "Quite a few. None that you'll terribly enjoy, my friend."

"Dare I ask?" Marius sighed, putting his pen down and looking at the tiefling.

"For one, your daughter and that Astero boy are an item." Wake smirked.

Marius rubbed his face with his hands. "I know." He sighed. "And, I'm sure they think that they're being sneaky, but even Jacob has noticed that she's been missing for several mornings now."

"You can always nip over to The Rook and pick her up." Wake offered. "They think that they're being sneaky over there too."

"Sweet, Mask, deliver us. I do not want to go there." Marius grumbled.

"Well, then, you can either let it go on or have a talk. The choice is up to you." Wake smirked again. "Either way, Raze is pleased. She loves the drama."

"I'm sure that she does. She loves that kind of stuff." He sighed. "When you see her, could you tell her to come home? Eri's worried. If Magdiana's not careful, a very angry cleric is going to come and smite the hell out of that boy."

Wake laughed. "And you're not? I always had you pegged for the overprotective father."

"By the gods, I'm trying not to be. She's an adult… a damn lethal one. But, in some ways, she's just a kid." Marius complained. "Don't make me treat her like a child."

Wake took his boots off of the desk, and leaned forward. "No can do. It's far too entertaining not to watch you squirm."

Marius opened his desk drawer, and tossed a pouch at the ship captain. "Get outta here, Wake. I've got work to do."

Wake just laughed and strutted towards the door. "Oh, and Marius?"

"What?" Marius replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. It was evident on his face.

"I do so hate to be the one to tell you of this, but you ought to have that very important talk with your daughter." He said before strolling out with a smirk on his face. He did like to be the one in charge of every encounter, and he certainly felt like he'd won that one. It didn't take him long with the pep in his step to make his way back to The Rook, and he entered the inn with a wide smile on his face. "Any new developments?"

Raze shook her head. "Nothing. They have not left the room. Unless they snuck out of the second story window, which I doubt. Now, spill. I want all the details."

Wake grabbed her hand, and lead her back into their room with a flourish and bow. "My lady."

She giggled. "Oh, Wake, you charmer."

He took a seat on their bed and crossed his legs in a relaxed fashion. "First of all, Astero's female coworker is very jealous of their relationship. She thinks that they are very cute."

"Oh, do go on." Raze nearly squealed.

"Astero is being called the head chef at the shop he works at too. After that, I went to Magdiana's workplace and ordered some poisons. Cost a pretty copper, too. Shit better be good." He smirked.

Raze's eyes peered at Wake. "How much?"

"Nothing we couldn't afford, my darling." Wake waved her off, giving her a small kiss on the cheek. "Nothing to worry about. Besides, I got to meet her coworker. In the nicest terms that I can possibly summon about her… lazy bitch, and you know how I feel about ladies, my darling."

"Oh, I do hate those types." Raze frowned. "I take it that she won't be working there for long?"

"I don't think so, but Mag won't be happy about it. She and Charles are the only others there." He frowned back. "Perhaps, it is for the best. She will have to go home instead of here."

Raze rolled her eyes. "That puts a damper on my entertainment if she is not here as frequently."

"And, I am sorry, my dear. Perhaps, I am wrong. For your sake, I hope so." He smiled.

"What did Marius have to say?" Raze asked, licking her lips in anticipation.

Wake shrugged. "Not much that we didn't already expect. He and Eri want her to come home, obviously, and Jacob has noticed her absence. I do wonder what made her start to stay here in the first place. Could it really be just because they became an item or is there something more to it?"

Raze playfully slapped his arm. "You like mysteries so much that you try to find them everywhere. Can they not just want to spend time together?"

"They could, but they wanted nothing to do with one another a month ago." Wake countered.

"Fine then, if they will talk to you, you should ask them." Raze responded. "Now, you've made me worried. They are so strong. What could scare them?"

"I do not know, darling, but it will all be fine. It will work out like it always has." He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her temple. "I will speak with them, though, I'm sure they won't be happy with me."

"You have that way with people." Raze laughed. "Do not get hurt too badly. I am not a healer."

He laughed. "I will try not to. Maybe, Mag will feel forgiving and heal me."

Wake left their room, and walked up the steps to Astero's door. He knocked, waiting for several moments before knocking louder. He looked at the time. It wasn't late. Could they really be asleep? He knocked a third time, and, this time, he heard shuffling headed towards the door. There were the sounds of the door being unlocked, and, a moment later, a groggy looking Astero was answering the door in the same shirt and boxers from earlier. He didn't open the door very far, like he was trying to hide something in the room.

"Wake? You couldn't just let me sleep on my day off?" He asked, looking a little irritated.

"It is still early." Wake said, leaning against the door jam. He peered into the dark room, and saw a human shaped lump in the bed. "I thought she was here. Wake her up. We need to talk." He grabbed the door and started to step inside, but Astero stopped him in his tracks.

Astero sighed. "We have to do this right now? Not over breakfast?"

Wake looked the boy over. "Yes." He told him sternly.

"Give me a minute." Astero sighed, moving to close the door in his face only to have Wake catch it.

"You have five minutes before I come in with or without permission." The tiefling said as more of a promise than anything.

"Whatever, man. Just give us a minute." Astero said, closing the door. He didn't bother to lock it behind him. He climbed into bed, and started to gently shake Magdiana awake. "Hey. Hey, Mag? You've gotta wake up and get dressed."

Magdiana jolted awake, and was swinging before she realized what she'd done. If it weren't for Astero's own training, she would've gotten him with a swift jab. Instead, he dodged out of the way, and grabbed her hand in his. His eyes locked with hers, and he watched her for any signs of distress. She, looked around, processing everything around her. "As? What time is it?" She asked, confused.

"It's still night. We went to bed early." He told her calmly. "Wake insists on talking tonight. He's right outside the door, so you might wanna get dressed."

Magdiana leaned into him, closing her eyes and breathing. "Dammit." She groaned, holding him for a minute.

Astero held her back, pulling her close, and actually lifting her up and out of bed. He walked her into the bathroom and set her on the countertop. He walked back and grabbed her clothes and daggers from the couch she'd left them on the day before. He placed those next to her, and gave her a small kiss before closing the door behind him. He moved to go sit on one of the chairs, and waited for Wake to let himself in.

A few minutes later, Magdiana was still indisposed, and Wake knocked on the door before letting himself in. "Well, I'll be damned. Expected her to still be in bed."

"Wake…" Astero sighed just as Magdiana shuffled out of the bathroom fully dressed and armed. "Please, don't press your luck with her right now. I don't want to take a dagger for you."

Magdiana took a seat next to Astero, and closed her eyes. "Alright. What couldn't wait until morning, Wake? Just wanted to exercise your namesake?"

Wake laughed as he took a seat. "No. There are better ways to be an asshole to you two." He looked between the two of them seriously before asking. "What happened that made you get together and why hasn't she slept at home since it happened?" He pointed at the two of them as he spoke to punctuate his words. "Something is up. The King trusted me to protect you two in Yutan. Why are you not trusting me now?"

Astero looked to Magdiana with a curious look. A look of "should we trust him?".

Magdiana glanced to Astero before opening her mouth and lying through her teeth. "Wake… we're twenty somethings. Can we not just want to fuck?"

Wake blinked for a moment and looked between the two of them. "Well, yes you most certainly can. I'm not trying to stop you there, go crazy for all I care." He deadpanned. "But I just want to know… why are you two avoiding literally everyone… besides your employers of course."

Magdiana looked to Astero. She would let him take the lead on this one. It was his brother, after all. The insecurities from the past few days seemed heavy on her shoulders at the moment. Were Eri and Marius her real parents. Could they be trusted? Could Wake? It was too much normally, but, even worse after having been woken up to talk about it. "As?" She asked.

Astero looked to her. "Yeah?" He asked her.

"This one's up to you." She told him quietly, grabbing his hand as a comfort.

He sighed heavily, and squeezed her hand lightly. He looked up to Wake, looking him square in the eyes. "A few days ago, I got a letter… from my brother." he told him nervously.

Wake paused hearing this. He closed his eyes, and held the bridge of his nose. "Son. Of. A Bitch." He sighed heavily, looked worried as he did so.

"I take it that you've met." Magdiana deadpanned.

Wake nodded slowly. "Unfortunately."

"When were you going to tell me I had a brother!?" Astero said annoyed.

"Shh." Magdiana soothed, rubbing his hand with her thumb wearily.

Wake looked to Astero seriously. "I am sorry for not telling you… but honestly… I wasn't planning on it." He deadpanned. "Astero, your brother is not a good person."

Asteros eyes darted around, before he looked back to Wake. "Why not? What did he do that was so bad?" He asked him seriously.

"As…" Magdiana whispered, grabbing his chin and making him look at her. "Who should have raised you if your parents weren't around? Logically."

"He… probably had his reasons…" He said trailing off.

Wake shook his head at him, but looked between the two of them. "Your brother… is the reason why all of this shit has happened to the two of you." He told them honestly with a deep sigh.

Magdiana sat up straighter and leaned forward to assess Wake's face. He didn't appear to be lying. Why was it so hard to tell sometimes? "Please explain."

Wake nodded and stood up. "I will, but not here. We need to go downstairs. It's safer there."

"It's an open room? How could it be safer?" Astero asked, still trying to process everything he just heard.

"I meant downstairs, downstairs." He said pointing to the ground.

"What? You have a room with nondetection or some shit?" Magdiana asked flippantly, making a wild guess.

Wake made a calming gesture. "I will explain everything in just a few minutes. Okay? Just trust me, and let's go down stairs." He said moving to the door.

"You know how this sounds, right? Are you going to gank us?" She asked seriously. "Because that is, quite literally, my job as a rogue."

He turned to look at magdiana seriously. "I don't need to to bring you there to gank you, i could do it right here." he said seriously. "We are going downstairs because what I am about to tell you two. Is only known by a handful of people in the world." He said, not mincing words. "So please, shut up, and follow me." He said walking out of the room.

Astero followed, he was dazed and needed to know what was going on.

Magdiana stood up kind of robotically, and grabbed Astero's hand as she walked. She didn't say a word, though she was thinking at a million miles a minute. Did she trust Wake? Did she believe that Astero's brother couldn't be trusted? What about her parents? She was near panic as she walked.

Wake walked down into the main common room of the bar, and lead them to a small side door, he told them to wait for just a minute, while he got Raze. A moment later the red tiefling lead them to a staircase that lead downstairs, and a small hallway with a thick wooden door at the end. She unlocked the door, and lead them all inside before closing, and locking the door behind them. Wake waved a hand, and the room lit up, revealing a much older structured room, that seemed to be the foundation for the building above. Ornately chiseled stone lined the walls, and several glyphs, and runes were engraved deeply into the corners. He took a seat at a long oak table and offered them a seat. "Okay, now I will answer your questions… just note, you won't like some of the answers." He said seriously.

Astero thought for a moment, and looked to Wake. "What exactly did my brother do?"

"Why did he tell Astero not to trust anybody? Including me." Magdiana added. "I don't care if what you have to say sucks. I just want a straight answer at this point."

"Well I can answer both questions with the same answer." he told them, taking a breath before he continued. "Astero, your brother is, for the want of a better word, a terrorist." He said simply. "He believes that everything that The King is doing, is complete and utter nonsense. And he is trying to do everything in his power to ruin everything The King has ever done."

Magdiana scooted closer to Astero and held him. She didn't have anything to say, but that was not news that someone ever wanted to hear about their estranged brother.

"But… why? Why did he do all of this? To the both of us? Why didn't he look after me when my parents died?" He asked quickly.

Wake paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully, not to make astero any more angered than he already was. "Your brother started all of this after your parents died. He wasn't happy by any means by what your parents did. So he wanted to try and protect you in his own weird way." he said to astero calmly, before looking to magdiana. "Mag, the reason you were taken, was because your parents worshipped two different gods. He thought that by taking you from them, he could use you to make you into a weapon… and he almost succeeded." He told them honestly.

Magdiana's jaw dropped. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"I wish I was." He deadpanned.

"Why all the cloak and dagger? Why were we being watched for every move we made? If he wanted to use us, why wasn't he there?" She asked rapidfire. She left out so many other questions, only letting the three stand out.

"He wasn't there, because he was off trying to take out other members of our group." He frowned. "He was weakening our forces." he sighed, before he went on. "As for watching your every move. We are just as confused as you are. We just know he was trying to turn you both into weapons, to be used against The King. And the cloak and dagger is his M.O. he is a very hard person to find let alone catch. So far the only way we have been able to get close, is if he lets us get close." He said frustrated.

"So what? He is a rogue, like Mag?" Astero asked, looking at mag as he did so.

"There is a difference between a rogue, and a mastermind." Wake said simply. "Rivin is smart, like you Astero, but on a completely different level." He said with a frown.

Magdiana looked at Wake for a moment before she spoke. "Are my parents, my real parents? And do they know that Asteros brother took me?" She asked simply.

Wake gave a small chuckle, and looked to Magdiana. "Yes they are your real parents." he told her honestly. "And no… they don't know it was Rivin. I shudder to think what your mother would do to Astero if she knew." He said honestly.

"Oh great." Astero said hanging his head. "So not only is it going to be super awkward to talk to your mom. Which she might already want to kill me, if she finds out about all this, will actually kill me." He said breathing heavily.

She grabbed astero's hand. "Hey, she won't kill you. I won't let her." She said trying to calm him down.

"Mag…" astero said looking into her eyes. "My brother tore apart your family… She has every right to be pissed off at me." He said seriously, tearing up as he did so.

She looked at him seriously. "And that was infant you's fault?"

He shook his head. "No, but I would still be mad." he replied.

"Then, she can take it out on me." She told him. "You don't have to fight her… or let her beat you."

"That's not fair on you though." He told her. "I don't want you fighting your mother." He said sadly.

She smirked. "Why not? Afraid I'm going to be stronger than you?"

"No… afraid you'll have your ass kicked." he told her honestly. "She told off Wake like he was nothing, you won't last a minute against her."

"I won't, but I'm pretty sure she has incentive to keep me alive, As." She laughed.

He sighed. "Well duh, but it still isn't right to have you fight her. That's just… messed up." He shook his head.

"So, then, we'll both fight her. I'm not going to let her beat on you." She told him, looking determined. "Mother or not."

"And I'm not letting you fight her." He told her seriously.

Wake stood up. "Children!" He said loudly, getting the attention of the both of them. "Stop arguing, and focus. You can worry about telling her parents at a later date. For now, do you have any other questions?" He asked them, trying to change the subject.

"Is…" Magdiana sighed. "Is it safe here?"

Wake nodded at her. "Yes, Rivin is smart. But he wouldn't try to take you from here as you are now. You two would put up way too much of a fight." He chuckled.

Astero chuckled lightly. "Yeah, we would."

"We still want to train with you. I don't want to be taken by surprise." She said, looking to Astero.

Astero nodded in agreement. "We need to get stronger. And you seem to be our best bet." he told wake, looking at Magdiana.

Wake nodded, and looked between the two of them. "You can still train with me, that was always going to be an option."

"I actually have one more question." Magdiana blushed. "Sorry for interrupting."

"It's fine." Wake smiled. "What is it?" He asked back.

She pulled the adamantine coin out of her pocket. "Any idea why I had a tag from home to The Rook? And why they gave me a coin purse with platinum and that?"

Wake looked the coin over and smiled. "Well, if you got this coin, it means you did some good work. The platinum was just a tip." He said handing the coin back to her. "Consider yourself lucky, it's not easy getting one of those."

"I don't even know what I did." She hummed, taking the coin back.

"You probably made some really good poison, or you just met the right guy." He thought it over for a moment. "Either way, hold onto that. It can be very useful." He said honestly.

"I did make a large order of specialty midnight tears this week." She hummed before she winced. "Obviously, they worked."

Wake winced and nodded. "Yeah… they more than likely did." he said shaking his head. "Plus side, now you might be the go-to girl for those. Assuming they come back." He told her. "It is good coin to have."

"You don't have to tell me that. Damn near doubled the amount of coin we have to buy the…" She trailed off.

"Buy what now?" Wake said blinking in confusion.

Astero sighed, looking at magdiana. "Really? Word vomit at a time like this?" He asked her seriously.

"I word vomit when I'm stressed, As. You know that." She sighed.

"Yeah… I know." he sighed, looking to wake. "We were planning on buying a house." He told him annoyed.

Raze, who had been silent in the corner for the whole conversation squealed. "So romantic!" She sighed.

Wake looked to his wife and shook his head, before looking to Magdiana. "And let me guess… you haven't told either of your parents about any of this? Have you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"I was going to wait until we were a little closer to how much we needed, and, then, the letter happened. And, I was afraid to go sleep there. Just in case…" She blushed.

Wake sighed and put his head in his hands. "Mag… please go home tonight and be with your parents." he told her simply. "Both of them have been worried sick about you, and even jacob has noticed you being gone. Please just talk to them." He pleaded with her. "I assure you, they are who they say they are. They just want to spend time with their daughter. That's all."

Magdiana looked away from everybody. Her eyes were watering dangerously. She wasn't blinking for fear that the tears would fall. "It's difficult, okay? I grew up with different parents. I called them mom and dad. They were there for everything important. Then, one day, bam, these strangers are my parents, and, yeah, it feels right. But, they don't know a thing about me. Hells, I didn't know my surname until a few days ago. I'm trying. It's just hard."

Astero put an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder. "It's okay, Mag." he said quietly. "No one is judging you. We get that it is hard. We do." He said seriously. "Just take it easy with them, you don't have to jump in, and be all lovey dovey family crap in a tenday." he joked. "You can take your time."

Wake smiled and nodded. "He is right. One step at a time."

She fell into Astero's arms. "And, I feel so unfair. How come I get two sets of parents while Astero has nobody. He doesn't deserve to be alone."

Wake sighed, and leaned in. "He isn't alone. He has you, and also us." He started, speaking quietly to the both of them. "Astero, you will never be alone so long as The King lives. Mark my words on that. You will always have someone there to watch over you." He told him. "And mag, if you two are going to be a couple, he will meet your parents eventually. And if I know them like I think I do. They will take him in like one of their own." He smiled. "So don't worry, you two will always have someone."

Magdiana sniffled against Astero's chest. She looked up at him. "Will you walk me, please?"

"Of course I will." he smiled down at her.

"Thank you." She mumbled, glancing over at Wake. "And thank you. Even if you are an ass."

Wake shrugged. "I just like to know things… and you are welcome." he smiled at her.

"Could you please stop insinuating that we're having sex then?" She sighed. "Because if this escalates too much more… there will only be stories of what started the prank war."

Wake chuckled at her. "Hey, when I see your clothes sitting on a chair with a pile of daggers on top of them… what do you expect me to think?" He asked her.

"That I'm wearing different clothes, Wake!" She yelled.

He put his hands up in the air defensively. "Okay… calm down. I'm only pulling the piss out of you. Jeez, no need to get agitated." He said shaking his head.

"Alright. I give up." She threw her own hands up. "I'm exhausted. Let's get out of here, please."

Astero stood up, and held out a hand for her. "Yeah… this has been a long day." he sighed.

Wake nodded and stood up, with Raze going to unlock the door for them. "Goodnight guys. Sleep well." He said simply.

Magdiana took Astero's hand as they walked out of the room. "My pack is still in your room." She said quietly.

"Let's go get it first before we head off." he replied back.

"I love you." She told him at a whisper.

"I love you." He whispered back, squeezing her hand lightly, leading her out of the room, and up to go get her pack.

When the two left, Raze looked to Wake with a wide smile. "They are so adorable!" She said gleefully.

"Yes they are dear." He smiled back at her, giving her a small kiss.

Magdiana walked into the room to grab her pack, but Astero beat her to it, slinging it over his shoulder. "I might have a hard time sleeping tonight."

He sighed. "I am sorry." he said giving her a kiss. "I would spend the night with you, but I highly doubt your parents would let me stay." He told her honestly.

"I can only guess." She said. "And my guess is that you're right."

"Yeah." He sighed, leading the way. "I still haven't even met your dad." He told her.

"I'm… probably in trouble or something, so you don't want to meet him tonight I don't think." She sighed. "I think you'll get along, though."

"Well then I will drop you off a good distance away from your house… just to be safe." he grimaced.

"You weren't keeping me away." She assured him. "It's not your fault that I haven't been around."

"I know, but I wasn't helping either." He chuckled. "We did get very close."

She nodded. "I really like that closeness. Makes me look forward to the future house."

"Soon." he smiled at her. "Just need to tell your parents… we have a lot to tell them." He said nervously.

"Will you come to dinner? Maybe the day after tomorrow so that they have a heads up?" She asked.

"Yeah. I can do that." He told her. "It will give me a chance to prepare myself for anything they throw at me… maybe I should bring something, maybe a cake." He chuckled.

She laughed. "They don't require a peace offering, I think, but I'm sure they'd appreciate it."

"Okay then. You find out what they like, and I will make it." He smiled at her. "And a smaller one just for you." He nudged her.

"You don't have to… but you know I will eat it. I need a lot of calories to keep up with my workout routine." She laughed and blushed simultaneously. "Will you show me some of your fighter moves sometime? I think that I want to try it out."

"Okay." He smiled at her. "Only if you show me how to smite."

"Honestly? I just kind of felt like I needed to protect Jacob, and, bam, smite." She replied. "I'll try to repeat it sometime."

"I still need to meet your brother." He added. "He sounds nice." He smiled.

She glanced at him. "He's a good kid with an unhealthy obsession for pointy objects."

"So… don't summon my greatsword… got it." he joked.

"Or the dagger. Was I that bad? Please tell me I was better." She asked him somewhat desperately.

"Oh gods no." He told her honestly. "You had a build up to the 14 daggers." He chuckled.

She sighed. "Good. I don't want him being like me, though. I brought daggers to school. That was… probably not okay."

He raised an eyebrow in thought. "Didn't you get caught once?" He asked her.

"Only with one. They weren't brave enough to find the rest." She laughed.

"Figures as much." He chuckled. "My roguish girlfriend." He smiled at her, before realizing what he just said, and blushing a bit.

"Well, thank you, my eldritch knight." She curtsied.

He pulled her close to his side, and kissed her. "You're welcome. Please never change." He smiled at her.

"I don't know how to be anything else besides this." She giggled, planting a big kiss on his cheek.

He smiled, and sighed quickly after. "Why do you have to stay here tonight… don't answer that. I already know why. I am just going to miss you." He said honestly.

"I'm going to miss you." She told him. "I wish you could stay. I don't think I'll sleep tonight except for that nap from earlier."

"I know. Don't remind me." He sighed. "I know we both have tomorrow off, but I doubt we will be seeing any of each other." He told her honestly.

"What about our plan to check on you know who's office and the adventure?" She asked as they were walking by the docks. "Wait a minute. We're here now."

He looked at her, and then at the ship in question. "How quickly do you think you could get in and out?" He asked her seriously.

"Depends how complicated the lock on his door is. Maybe two minutes?" She guessed.

"Okay then. I will keep watch." He smiled at her.

She pulled her tools out of her bag and slunk into the shadows unseen, leaving him alone for a few minutes before she returned just as silently as she'd left. "Easy." She commented.

"Good." He smiled at her. "So what does it look like in there?" He asked her, starting to slowly walk in the direction of her house.

"Pretty boring, honestly. Walk in, dresser to the left. Bed next to that. Big one given that he's alone without his wife. Couple windows out the back, and there's a big table with maps and tools all over it on the right of the room." She gave him a basic idea using her hands to gesture to the imaginary room.

He thought it over for a moment. "Okay let's not mess with the maps. We don't want him to get lost at sea." He started. "Well, what if we do something with the dresser?" He asked her.

"Oh, definitely, we can make it so, if he opens one drawer, they all open in the most annoying fashion possible." She laughed.

"Yes!" he smiled at her. "We have a plan."

"I want to rig one drawer to puff flour in his face." She thought out loud.

"Or we rig it so that opening the top one, hits him in the groin." He chuckled.

She winced. "I'm not even a guy and that sounds painful."

"It is." He said honestly. "But it would be funny."

"It's really too bad we won't get to see his reaction." She sighed.

"Yeah, but I think just knowing it's going to happen is funny." He mused, holding her close.

"We should not be around The Rook when he comes home." She giggled, seeing as her house was becoming visible in the distance.

"Let's see if we can be adventuring by the time he gets back." He smiled at her.

She looked at him sadly. "We're not going tomorrow. Are we?"

"Do you think your parents will want you to leave at all tomorrow?" He asked with a frown.

"I don't know." She sighed. "Probably not…" She looked at the house and back to Astero. "Please, don't go."

"I don't want to." He said hugging her tightly.

She hugged him back, not letting go for several minutes until the front door of the house opened. She looked over, and, in the light, saw her father waving them over. Or was it just her. She wasn't sure. She looked at Astero.

Astero only saw the silhouette of a person in the dim light. "I can't tell who that is… you have the better vision" He chuckled, pulling away lightly.

"It's my Dad, but I can't tell if he's just wanting me or both of us." She told him.

"Well how about this, you go on ahead, and I will wait here. Okay?" He smiled at her. "Just wave me over if he wants to say hi."

She nodded, walking off and greeting her Dad. "Hey. Was that a get inside or a bring him over wave?" She asked.

Marius looked at his daughter with a raised eyebrow. "It was a hey get over here and let me see the guy who has stolen my daughter away for the last three days wave." He half-smirked.

Magdiana waved Astero over, and watched him start to stroll up. "It's a long story. Not all necessary his fault. Ask Wake."

"Oh will ask him a plethora of questions, but I want to ask this man some first." he said seeing astero walk up to greet him.

"Hello sir." Astero said extending a hand.

"Hello, you must be the infamous Astero I have heard so much about." He chuckled.

"Yes sir." Astero nodded. "I have heard quite a bit about you yourself." He smiled back.

Marius smiled at the young man, he seemed nice enough. "So, you are the man who ran away from yutan with my daughter, and stolen her heart." He said looking him over.

"And, saved my life." Magdiana added for emphasis, trying not to submit to the embarrassment that was washing over her.

Marius looked to her and then to Astero. "Well… I will thank you for that." He said giving him a small hug, before pulling away. "But, would it be possible to have her back for a few days?" he asked him. "We would like to spend time with her too." he joked.

Astero laughed. "Yes, I was just walking her home to do that." He half lied. "I figured you would want to see her."

"Thank you." Marius smiled at him, before turning to Magdiana. "I like him." He told her.

"Please just don't smite him for keeping me away. It wasn't his fault." She blushed.

"I figured it wasn't all his fault." he said looking at her reaction. "And I'm not going to smite him. Your mother might be a different story."

"Is she asleep?" She asked a little concerned.

"Nope" Eri said stepping out of the door. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" She said looking between Magdiana and Astero.

Magdiana looked between everybody. "Can we do this inside?"

Marius looked at his daughter, and then to his wife. "Let's go inside." He said to Eri. "That way the neighbors don't wake up." He said lightly pushing his wife inside the house. "Come on guys." he said gesturing the two inside.

Eri walked over to the table and pulled out a seat for Astero. "You can sit next to me." She said in a voice that promised a world of pain.

Astero took a deep breath, and nodded. "Yes, ma'am." He said sitting down, and being pulled next to her.

Magdiana sat across from Astero next to her father. She put her head on the table. "Fuck this tenday."

"Don't worry, it's almost over." Marius said rubbing her shoulders. "You will make it through."

"Thanks." She mumbled into the table before looking up. "Where do you want to start?" She fought the urge to groan.

"Well, how about telling us how long this has been a thing?" Marius said, pointing a finger between the two of them.

"It only started a few days ago." Astero said. "It kinda was a spur of the moment thing." He said honestly.

Magdiana shook her head. "Speak for yourself." She chuckled.

"Okay. we only realized our feelings were mutual, a few days ago." He corrected himself, glancing at Eri as he spoke.

Eri made a tutting sound before speaking. "And, so we instantly started spending the night?"

"No." Astero replied. "That only started recently. We figured that out a few days before that." He told her honestly.

"I accidently stayed the first night. Just fell right to sleep on his couch." Magdiana explained.

"Yeah." Astero agreed. "And one night became two, and so on and so on." He said rolling his fingers.

Magdiana blushed. "I haven't slept that well in a while, so…" She trailed off.

"You don't need to go into details." Marius said making a face.

"Don't look like that. We're not…" She sighed. "We're not having sex."

Marius looked at the two of them. "Not yet." He said shaking his head a little.

Eri quietly looked at Astero. She was almost too calm right now. It was eerie. "What are your intentions with my daughter?" She asked simply.

Astro gulped audibly. He looked at Eri intently. "Well… Mag is the only one I really know here in Asesh. And well, I want to keep her safe, make sure we look after one another." He told her honestly, looking at Magdiana with a small smile.

Magdiana smiled at him, but before she could speak, Eri chimed in, "And that's special enough for several back to back overnight stays, Magdiana?"

"Mom," Magdiana groaned this time. "Please, you don't know the whole story. Wake took us into the basement to talk about it. I guess that's serious."

Marius raised an eyebrow at that. "Well yeah, that means he trusts you. I can ask him what happened, but we would rather hear your side of the story." He said to her.

Magdiana looked to Astero. "How much do you think I can say?"

"Well most of it, I think. Other than a few bits." He said, reminding her of her brother and her parents not knowing.

"Astero got a letter from… his brother… the other day. It really freaked us out. That's why I wasn't coming home." She told them bluntly.

Astero's eyes went wide as she said that, but he quickly made his face turn back to normal. "Yeah, it was jarring to say the least." He said quietly.

Eri looked between the two of them. "There's something special about his brother." She surmised.

"Can't talk about it. I've probably already said too much." Magdiana responded. "Now, you know."

Marius nodded. "Well, if Wake says something like that, he means it." He said with a small sigh. "That guy, like to get all of the info, and tell no one but his wife." He chuckled lightly.

"She is the worst gossip in town." Eri scoffed. "Or, well, she doesn't spread it. She just likes to hear it."

"Amen to that." Astero replied with a sigh. "She was using us for her own personal drama story." He chuckled.

Magdiana sighed. "Yeah. Apparently, we're the entertainment of the decade."

"Then you two must have been fun to watch for her to keep an eye on you." Marius told them.

"That's it. I'm climbing in through your window from… now… on. Sweet Mask what is wrong with me tonight." Magdiana blurted.

Astero looked to her and then to Eri. "Raze was getting annoying, and so was wake." He half-grinned.

"Wake was worse. Had to stab him to get him to shut up." She grumbled. "Threatened his ability to procreate too."

"Yup, wake will do that." Marius chuckled.

Eri started to laugh and raised a fist across the table to bump with Magdiana's. "That's my girl."

"We also may, or may not have broken into his ship to maybe, maybe not prank him." Astero added.

"Shh. Don't tell them our secrets." Magdiana smirked.

"Not all of them, just that one." He smirked back.

Magdiana looked at her father. "When does The Raven leave port next?"

Marius smiled at her. "Well I technically can't tell you that, it will be leaving in three days, and that it will be gone for four days. So I guess you will have to find someone else to get that information from." He shrugged.

"Well I guess we will have to figure out a different way to prank him, rats." Astero said sarcastically.

Eri laughed, looking at Astero with a bit of mischief. "I won't tell you that when he fights his weak point is behind him. That would be cheating."

"That it would be." He smiled at Eri. "I guess it is a good thing I am really good at wild guesses then huh?" He chuckled.

"Hey, he doesn't have a porn stash in his dresser that I don't want to know about, right?" Magdiana asked. "That's the thing that I most definitely didn't want to booby trap."

Marius leaned over to her. "No it's not in his dresser. Just don't look under his bed." He whispered to her.

"Really glad that I didn't look that hard." Magdiana made a face.

"Good thing." He replied, patting her back.

"Are we good?" Magdiana asked her parents a bit nervously. "Because I'm drained, and I'm not going to sleep tonight."

Marius looked at his daughter. "I am fine, I wasn't nearly as worried as your mother was" He said pointing to Eri.

Eri looked at her daughter. "Just… please… go slow. You were this big yesterday." She gestured. "And you…" She pointed to Astero. "Are coming to dinner… tomorrow."

"Alright, I can do that." Astero replied. "What type of cake do you like?" He asked her.

"Lemon cake." Eri smiled, looking to Magdiana. "He can cook!"

Magdiana chuckled. "Yeah. I'm pretty lucky."

"Alright, I will make a lemon cake before I leave for here. What time?" Astero asked her curiously.

"Around five. I like to keep Jacob on a schedule or he gets hangry." She laughed.

"Okay. I will have it ready by then." He smiled back.

Magdiana stood up, and walked over to Astero. She hugged him. "Sleep well."

He smiled as she hugged him, and hugged her back in kind. "You too, I will see you tomorrow." he said standing up. "Well, it was a pleasure to finally meet you. I will see you all tomorrow." He said starting to make his way to the door.

Magdiana squeezed his hand, not wanting to say a few very important words in front of her parents. She smiled up at him and sadly began to walk to her room. Tonight was going to be a long night.

Marius waved astero off, and watched as he disappeared into the night. He turned to look at Eri. "So what do you think of him?" He asked her.

"I think that I just got my daughter back and I've already lost her to that boy." She sighed.

"Yeah. I feel the same way." He sighed, holding her hand.

"He's perfect. He'll protect her. He already has, but…" She looked down sadly, just letting her thoughts hang there.

"We just wanted more time with her." He said pulling her close.

She sobbed into him. "Marius… this is so hard. Wasn't it supposed to be easy? Just getting her back? She's an adult. Why is it so difficult?"

"It was supposed to be." He said rubbing her back. "It will get easier, it will just take time." He said wiping the wetness from his eyes.

She cried for a few minutes before she sniffled and pulled away, feeling a bit better. "He doesn't have any family."

"No, I'm pretty sure he has been by himself for most of his life." Marius replied.

"He never trained with his Dad. Or cooked with guess Mom. He was all alone…" Eri, thought, starting to come to conclusions in her mind.

"He is a trooper for being so strong through it all. And still having a sense of humor as well." He said looking at her.

She looked over at him. "What? My future son in law needs parental figures, Marius."

"Uhhh. What? Don't you think you might be rushing things dear?" He asked her seriously.

"Rushing what? The way he looked at her… I wouldn't be surprised if they moved in together soon. And, did you see the way she moved every time he moved?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yeah… I did. And she looked sad when he left, I can see why they were staying the night together." He sighed a bit. "I bet they will sleep like crap tonight." he told her.

"She already said she wouldn't sleep tonight." Eri responded.

Marius sighed. "It is going to be a long day tomorrow… isn't it?" He asked her.

"We've got a cranky rogue in the house." She laughed.

"At least there will be cake later in the day. Jacob will love that." He laughed.

"Oh, great. Another set of weapons for him to fascinate over." Eri sighed. "I give up. Just train him already."

"Really? Are you sure?" He asked her seriously. "I don't mind waiting a bit longer."

She shook her head. "Just go over safety for Corellon's sake."

Marius smiled, and gave her a small kiss. "I will. And thank you." He said hugging her.

"Just… don't forget what happened to Mag." She said. "Be careful."

He rubbed his side a bit. "It will be hard to forget." He told her honestly. "I will, don't worry."

"What did happen with that?" She asked.

He sighed a bit. "Well mag was showing Jacob her daggers… and I walked up. She got protective of him, and threw the dagger at me, it glowed, and hit me in the side." He explained to her.

"And, it's still bothering you?" She asked, pulling b up his shirt to investigate.

"A bit, she did hit me pretty hard." He told her.

"Right above your liver, too." She remarked, rubbing her hands together and touching him. "Let me know how you feel in the morning."

"I will." He told her. "Thank you."

She smiled. "What are clerics for?"

"Being wonderful wives?" He smirked back.

"Flattery will get you everywhere." She smirked.

"I do try." He smiled, leaning in to kiss her.

Eri kissed him back before checking the doors and windows. She turned off the lights, and dragged Marius to their bedroom. On the way, she stopped by her daughter's door and spoke. "Love you, Mag." There was no response. "You think she's angry or that she's snuck out?"

Marius shook his head. "I am hoping for angry… but I don't want to open the door to find out." He whispered to her.

Eri looked at Marius's stomach. "I don't blame you. How did the others deal with that? And, it's just a normal reaction…"

"I know it is. But the others might have been the ones to start it too." He grimaced.

"Let's not think of that. Perhaps, some normalcy will set it right." She frowned.

Marius wrapped an arm around her and led them to their bedroom. "I'm hoping too, but for now, lets sleep. We have a dinner to plan for tomorrow." He smiled at her.

"Yes. With dessert." She smiled.

"I am looking forward to it." He smiled.


	9. Hanging

Magdiana groaned when dawn came. She had been in bed all night, sure, but no real restful sleep was had. She sighed, going to the bathroom and showering before going out to the living room. She realized after she got to the living room that she should've showered after her run. She sighed, collapsing on the couch. "What. Is. Wrong. With. Me?" She groaned.

Marius walked up to her and sat down next to her, handing her a cup of coffee. "Let me guess, you didn't sleep, did you?" He asked her, already having a good idea of the answer.

"You know that floaty place where you're just about to sleep?" She asked.

"Yeah, I know the place." He sighed in agreement.

"Astero should be worried because we were very intimate last night." She deadpanned.

"Uhh. okay. Well, I will let him know when he arrives later… I guess." He said handing her the coffee a little firmer now. "Please drink this and wake up." He said seriously.

Magdiana didn't even blush. "Not sorry. Once again… nothing happened. What is it with you and Wake?"

"Wake is his own entity. I just don't want to hear that my daughter is having sex dreams about her boyfriend." He told her.

"No. No." Magdiana frowned. "Me and that place between sleep were intimate last night. Ugh. Words are hard."

"Oh… okay that is must better sounding." He said letting out a sigh of relief. "You just lie down and try to get a few more z's. Okay?" He told her.

She shook her head. "But I've gotta work out."

"You can miss a workout once in a while." he told her. "Just get some sleep." He said calmingly.

She placed the coffee down. "I'll try." She laid down on the couch and closed her eyes.

"Good. I will make sure Jacob doesn't bother you." He smiled.

"My daggers aren't on me. Don't worry about it." She told him seriously.

"He hasn't seen you in a few days. And you need sleep. It not you hurting him that i'm worried about." He chuckled.

She kept her eyes closed. "It's fine. I got a little nap yesterday. I'll be okay. Exhaustion and me are good friends too."

He chuckled. "Ok fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." he said moving off of the couch.

Magdiana laid down for awhile. Not really sleeping until she had the smallest of flashes of the sight of the training ground behind the house. It wasn't even really a dream per se, but she was off of the couch and out of the door in record time. She found herself looking around the small clearing. Nothing was there.

"You rang?" She asked the clearing. There was no response. No glow of magic. Nothing. She sighed. "Just a dream, I guess." She whispered, turning back towards the house and hearing something behind her.

She turned around and saw a dagger on the ground. The hilt was emblazoned with Mask's holy symbol. She reached down and picked it up. She looked around and still saw nothing. "Alright, thank you… smart ass." She spoke to the deity.

As she turned around she felt a small nudge. She looked back around. Nothing was there. "Fine. Don't talk back. Thank you for the dagger. What else is there?"

The clearing was quiet, and she sighed, throwing the dagger at a target and destroying it with the glow of smite. She retrieved the dagger. "Happy?"

After several minutes, she returned to the house and grabbed the coffee mug she'd abandoned. She sat next to her father. "It's either Mask or someone is legitimately fucking with me." She told him, putting the dagger on the table.

"Where in the fuck, did you get that?" He asked looking the dagger over intently.

"The clearing out back." She told him.

He spent several long minutes quietly inspecting it, before he actually spoke, handing the dagger to her gently. "Well it's Mask." He said a little shocked. "No way you are getting a blade forged like that around here." He told her.

"Forged how?" She asked, not knowing the intricacies of blade craft.

"Okay you see those little specks of light coming off of the blade?" he asked her pointing to the area where it was most visible.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Those are mithril. And the closet mine for that, is on the other side of the continent." He told her. "And the nearest blacksmith who can actually work with it, is on a different continent… That's Mask."

She blinked several times. "It's not… stolen I hope."

He chuckled. "It's possible He is a god of trickery."

"Well, now, I need another dagger holster." She sighed.

"You will find one." He smirked.

"I am going to go to my room and arm myself, and, if there's another dagger holster, I'm going to freak out." She told him honestly.

"I will freak out." He replied to her. "He never gave me a gift. Let alone two." He grumbled.

She laughed. "Just keep complaining loudly about how you can keep putting more daggers on your person. Seems to work for me."

"If it worked that way for everyone, your brother would be a fighter like Astero." He chuckled. "That would be terrifying." He joked.

She looked at her Dad seriously. "About that… I asked Astero to show me some of his moves. So, I might be a fighter too."

"Okay? And? You make it sound like it is a bad thing." He chuckled at her.

"Huh. Guess I expected a fuss." She responded, sipping her coffee.

"Okay then...No! I forbid you! Only worship, no fighting!" He loudly joked.

She sighed. "It would've legitimately been an argument before."

"You can do whatever you want dear. We can't stop you." He smiled at her.

"They would have." She frowned. "Sorry, but it's true. Things in Yutan were kind of fucked up, Dad."

"And you are not in Yutan anymore. Don't think that what happened there will happen here." He told her.

She nodded. "I'm trying. I really am, Dad. It's just hard. That's all. My other… guardians... would've had a fit if I skipped training two days in a row."

He put his arm around her. "It's alright. Your mother and I are also still getting used to all of this as well. We never really had the chance to raise a daughter… but just know, we are not going to be mad at you for the things that happened over there.. this is a new chance to start over." He smiled at her.

"Dad? I, uh, should probably tell Mom too, but… I'm saving up money… to buy a house in town." She told him. "I don't want you to be blindsided."

He sighed, and chuckled softly. "Your mother was thinking you would soon. I wasn't expecting it to be this soon though."

"I've been an adult for years, though, so… it was time. Regardless of the terrible timing." She said. "I just need… space? Like, I still want to do family things, but… I feel- cooped up or something. I guess. That didn't make sense did it?"

"You want to spend time with the guy you love." He said seriously. " We get it, parents are great, but you want to be with someone you can talk to about things that are not as easy to talk to us about."

She sighed. "I've… loved him for a long time, but I never thought he'd feel the same. Are we rushing things? Maybe. But, I really do love him, Dad."

"Does it feel right?" He asked her seriously.

"I don't know. Nothing has felt wrong? We're comfortable with each other." She replied.

"Then you are going at the right place." He told her honestly. "If it feels wrong, it more than likely is. Just trust your yourself and Astero, and all will work out in the end." He smiled at her.

"Thanks, Dad." She hugged him almost crushing him with her vigor.

"No problem dear." He said hugging her back, wincing slightly. "I will always be here for you."

She leaned back in her chair. "Gods, I hope I can sleep tonight. Or at least black out."

Marius smiled at her. "You will. Worst case scenario, either your mother or I can knock you out." He chuckled.

"Not the hard way, I hope." She laughed.

"Oh no, a simple choke hold will do the trick." He laughed.

"Well, it's better than a swift bash to the head." She sighed.

Marius nudged her slightly. "Don't worry it won't come to that, when Astero gets here you can use him as a pillow if you want." He smiled.

"I actually want to make it through dinner, though." She smiled. "If I fall asleep when he gets here, my face will be in the potatoes for the whole meal."

"I meant after dinner, and after dessert. Not going to lie. Kinda hyped to try his cake. Wake told me his cooking was pretty good from what he has heard." He chuckled.

"Oh, yeah. He's a phenomenal cook. I am a very lucky lady. My cooking is pathetic by comparison." She enthused.

"Your mother is going to love him even more when she tries the cake… Isn't she?" He chuckled.

Magdiana laughed. "I'll have to fight her off."

"That would be a fight. Mag versus Eri, fight of the century!" he joked, waving his hands in the air to gesture a banner.

"Maybe, when I get better at the healies. I'm pretty sure that she'd kick my sorry ass right now." She laughed.

Marius patted her back. "Yup." He said simply. "It wouldn't even be a fight. I'm not sorry." he chuckled.

"It's fine. I can still throw you around like a rag doll. Wanna see?" She offered.

"I'll pass. I don't feel like getting hurt before the meal your mother is planning for tonight." he smiled, standing up and leaving her on the couch. "Now try to relax and get some sleep, I will wake you before your boyfriend arrives." He chuckled.

She sighed. "I will try. And, we have to spar sometime. Okay?"

"Okay. I will make sure to take it easy on you." He smirked.

"Don't take it easy on me, but maybe don't smite too hard either. I can only heal the small boo-boos." She joked.

"I wasn't planning on smiting." He told her.

She frowned. "Then, don't take it easy on me. I need to see how far I still have to go."

Marius paused, and looked back at her. "I will make sure your mother is nearby then…" he said quietly. "Though I don't really want to go that far."

"Astero has hit me multiple times in quick succession with a greatsword. I can take it." She said seriously, meeting good eyes steadily.

Marius locked eyes with her, he could tell she was serious. He knew she could take it, but he really didn't want to beat up on his one and only daughter. He sighed, and hung his head a bit. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." He told her, leaving the room.

Magdiana sighed, looking at where get father had just been and making a decision. He needed to see her fight first. Hopefully, a Astero should be up for a post dinner spar.

Astero awoke groggily, he dragged himself upright before sitting on the side of his bed. He had barely even slept, he tired to, but the lack of a body next to him made it difficult to get comfortable. He sighed deeply, hopefully they could sleep together sometime soon, otherwise he might actually kidnap her just to sleep. He stood up and looked at the clock, it was still pretty early. He debated trying to go back to sleep, but ended up just standing up and making himself some food.

He ate the small meal he made for himself, and went over the ingredients for the cake he needed to make for later. Eggs, flour and sugar he had, but he would need to go shopping for some of the other things… and he would need an oven. The room had a small stove but nothing to bake with. He sighed, and got dressed, he would need to talk to Raze.

He walked down the stairs, and slowly made his way to the counter. "Hey Raze… I need a favor." He sighed, he felt like he was making a deal with a devil.

Raze looked at Astero with a raised eyebrow, her tail swaying slightly in curiosity. "A favor? You must be pretty desperate if your asking me. I'm all ears. What do you need?" She said smiling widely at the young man.

Astero sighed, and looked to the red tiefling. "I need to borrow one of the ovens. I need to make a cake, and… I want to impress magdiana's mom with it. Get on her good side as it were." He said quietly, he knew he would never hear the end of this from this woman.

Raze squealed in enjoyment, and grabbed Asteros hands. "You can use the whole kitchen if need be!" she smiled at him, before she looked more seriously at him. "On one condition though… you make me whatever you are making to impress Eri." She said with a grin.

A long groan came out of Asteros lips. He looked into the tieflings eyes, and extended his hand. "Deal… I'll just go buy double of what I need then. I guess!" He sighed loudly, turning to make his way to the door.

"I will make sure the kitchen is ready for you when you get back!" She smiled gleefully at him, before going into the kitchen where loud yelling was her moments later.

Astero sighed softly, and made his way to the market. The first thing he got was more flour, and sugar, he hadn't anticipated for a tiefling to throw him for a loop. He shook his head and continued on, getting butter, baking powder, vanilla buttermilk, cream cheese, salt, and enough lemons to make the Gaping Maw pucker out of the sour citrus-ness that was coming from him. Once he was confident about his ingredients, he slowly made his way back to The Rook.

When he entered the building, there were a few angry looking men sitting next to the kitchen, complaining about getting kicked out of their kitchen. Astero sighed, and hung his head, walking past the men and feeling their angry eyes peirce into his very soul. He placed the ingredients on the counter and got into 'work mode'. He washed his hands, and cleaned the lemons, zesting several of them into a small bowl before squeezing them into juice. Next he combined the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl and set it aside.

Next he beat the butter and sugar until it was creamy and smooth, he beat in the eggs and added in small amounts of vanilla, until it was smooth and homogenous. He then slowly added the buttery mix into the dry ingredients, adding the buttermilk, lemon zest and lemon juice, to make the batter. He poured it into the cake pans and placed them into the oven. Going to work on the frosting next, which was a simple endeavour. Mixing the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla together until it tasted right.

When the cakes came out of the oven, he let them cool for a few minutes, before he cut them, and decorated them with the frosting. He smiled at the two cakes, and carefully took the nicer of the two up to his room, so no one would touch it. "Okay it's done, thank you, I'm not making you another one." Astero said walking upstairs, past Raze.

Raze ran into the kitchen, and was delighted by the cake. The men all walked back into the kitchen to do their job after halting everything for the tiefling.

Astero showered and got dressed, and carefully took the cake with him, walking to Magdiana's parents house, eager to see Mag.

When astero arrived he was greeted by marius. "Well hello. Glad to see you make it here before Mag woke up." He said stepping to the side to reveal Magdiana laying face down on the couch, one leg over the back while and arm and leg were draped off the edge.

Astero chuckled, and smiled at the sight. "Majestic as a sack of potatoes falling down stairs." he joked.

Marius laughed and let him in. "Good one." he smiled at him, offering his hand to take the cake. "Here, let me take that from you. You go and wake her up." he smiled.

"Oh yeah, throw me under the cart." He chuckled, handing him the cake. "If you hear noises, it probably me getting hit." he sighed, walking closer to his sleeping other half. He leaned down, and whispered in her ear. "Hey, wake up. At least lie down on my lap."

Magdiana let out a loud snort as she was woken, and jerked from her place before assessing the situation. "Mmm. Sleep." She whined, grabbing onto Astero like a small child and their plushie.

He smiled and sat on the couch, watching as she nearly curled up entirely into his lap. He lazily brushed her hair behind her ear, feeling her warmth against him. "Yeah I figured you slept like crap. I did too." He said, letting out a yawn.

"Sleep now. Food soon." She mumbled lazily, eyes closed. "Can… we… spar… later?" She muddled through her words. She was so tired it was hard to form the words.

"Yes we can." he said calmingly to her, relaxing on the couch as he did so. "That would be nice." He said yawning and closing his eyes.

Magdiana was already snoring. Some time later, Eri called out from the kitchen. "Wake up, you two! Dinner's finishing up."

Astero jumped from his spot a bit, tossing mag into the air slightly but caught her before she fell. He panted heavily at the sudden motion. "You okay?" He asked her.

"Mmm. Yeah." She said, wiping sleep from her eyes. She almost sobbed with relief. "Oh, I needed that."

"Yeah I did too," he said in agreement lifting her up. "How in the hells are we going to get sleep like this?" He whispered to her, standing up as he did so.

She sighed, thinking it over before leaning close to his ear and whispering, "How do you feel about sneaking in through my window?"

"It was either I do that. Or I steal you." he chuckled quietly back to her. "Either one works for me."

"Is it stealing if I'm willing?" She asked rhetorically.

"No, but I like the idea." He smirked, moving to the kitchen as they chatted.

She followed after him and quickly took her seat, gesturing him into the spot next to her. Jacob was across from them. "Thanks for letting me sleep, bud."

He smiled at her wildly. "It's okay, dad did some training with me today! It was fun!" He said giddily.

"He did?" She asked, looking to her Dad. "You did?"

"Well it was either, train him, or you don't get more sleep." He smiled at her, looking to Jacob as he did so. "Glad you enjoyed it buddy."

"Daggers!" Jacob shouted excitedly, suddenly looking deflated when Eri walked in.

The woman sighed. "It's fine, dear. I told him you could do it. You might as well learn how to do things safely since there's now another set of weapons in the house." Eri eyed Astero appraisingly.

"Sorry." He frowned. "At least I don't have them on me." He replied back to her, hoping it was a decent answer for her liking.

"I've met Eldritch Knights before." Eri laughed, waving a hand. "It's better than Magdiana's fifteen daggers."

"Fifteen daggers?" He asked, looking to mag curiously. "You got a new one?"

Magdiana made a face, taking the dagger out and handing it to him. "It was… a gift I guess."

Astero looked it over for a moment, nodding in approval. "It's nice. Suites you." He said handing it back to her.

"Thanks." She smiled taking it back. "I need another holster, though. Maybe I'll go buy one tomorrow."

Astero smiled at her. "That sounds like a good idea."

"I've just got to get some rest, first." She complained.

He nodded at her. "Yeah, last night sucked for sleeping." He said, being mindful of her younger brother.

Eri brought in two big plates full of meat and veggies that smelled simply divine. "Alright, everybody. Mixed greens, and don't let me hear you complain, Jacob. You're training, now. And a nice beef roast that marinated all day."

"This looks wonderful." Astero said, looking it over with an appraising eye.

"Thanks, Mom!" Magdiana and Jacob said simultaneously before blushing.

"Yup. you two are definitely related." Astero smiled, taking a bit of roast beef and sighing. "Okay, I need this recipe." He told her.

Magdiana took a bite, and lit up. "Yes, please. Give him the recipe."

Eri glanced at Marius before chuckling. "All you had to do was ask. I'll give it to you."

"Thank you." Astero smiled taking another bite. "I still have trouble with roasts." He told her honestly.

"It takes a bit to get the time and temperatures right. After that, it's easy." She waved.

"Oh, okay. I will just keep at it then." He nodded, before smiling at magdiana.

"Don't look at me like that. You know I'll eat anything you put in front of me. Sign me up for guinea pig duty." She laughed.

Astero laughed back. "Okay then. But be warned, you might get sick of my cooking." He said taking another bite of food.

"That is not possible." She deadpanned.

"We shall see." He replied back seriously.

Across the table, Jacob had already finished eating and was taking seconds, even of the veggies. "I'm hungry!" He said defensively.

"Well it would make sense, you were running like a mad man out there today." Marius smiled at him.

Magdiana winced a bit. "Yeah, I'm sorry about the food bill, he's going to start eating triple if my experience is anything to go by."

Marius waved it off. "Don't worry, we will be fine. Gods only know we make more than enough." He smiled at her.

"Hey, Jacob? You're not gonna go to bed right after dinner, yeah?" Magdiana asked the boy.

He shook his head. "No. I was told there would be cake!" He smiled at her.

"Well, I meant after that." She laughed. She looked at Astero. "We want to have a spar later."

Astero looked at her, and then to her younger brother. "I think that means she wants you to watch." He loudly whispered to him.

"Oh!" Jacob said in understanding. "Okay! I will watch!" He smiled at her sister.

Eri smirked. "I want to see this."

Marius looked around and chuckled. "Okay, I guess the after dinner entertainment is a sparring match."

"Hey, you need to see, old man… that way, you're not afraid you're going to hurt me." She told him with a wink, pointing to Astero. "This guy will hurt me more than you will. You can heal."

"Within reason." Astero added. "We used to get pretty rough with one another, don't want to go as hard now." He said looking at her.

"My daggers aren't laced with anything." She defended.

"No poison during spars!" Eri said a little nervously.

"I hope they aren't… that stunning one sucked." Astero shivered.

She smirked. "I have access to a lot more ingredients now. I've got one that will knock you unconscious now."

"Please no. That just seems unfair." He told her.

She took a vial out of her pocket. "Ghost blossom extract. Doesn't hurt. Just makes you real sleepy."

Marius looked at Magdiana seriously. "No poisons at the table!"

"That's okay. I forgot that it's questionably legal anyway." She pocketed it again.

Eri facepalmed. "Really?!"

"I forgot." Magdiana deadpanned.

Astero chuckled lightly. "Why does it not surprise me you had that on you?" He said cleaning his plate.

"Because you saw the mad scientist phase." She laughed, finishing off her plate as well and pushing it away. "I didn't do anything today. Not nearly as hungry as normal."

"Same." Astero replied. "Although… I did have to sell my soul in order to bake that cake." He sighed. "I am never going to hear the end of it from Raze."

Magdiana looked at Astero. "Thank you." She mouthed.

He nodded and looked to Eri. "I do hope you like it. I had to make two of them today." He told her.

Eri smirked. "Oh, Raze has her hooks in you now. I'm sorry."

"It was either use the kitchen in The Rook, or go to work to cook." He said to the group. "It was the best option at the time."

"You would've never made it out if you went to work." Magdiana commented. "Especially with the smell of cake coming from the kitchen."

"Yeah. though I wouldn't have had to buy the ingredients for two cakes in the process." he sighed. "Oh, well. What's done is done."

Magdiana laughed. "Let Wake and Raze enjoy their cake. Maybe, they'll be more tolerable tomorrow."

"I'm pretty sure it already gone, and Raze ate most of it." Astero laughed back.

Jacob finally spoke up. "Can we eat the cake now? Too much talk. More cake."

Astero smiled and nodded. "Alright, give me a minute." He smiled, standing up and taking plates with him as he walked to the kitchen.

Eri started to look excited. "I've been waiting for this so day."

Astero walked back out a few moments later, setting a slice of lemon cake down for everyone. He sat down and waved a hand. "Enjoy." He smiled at the group.

Magdiana was the first to comment. "Oh, I love you."

Astero smiled at her. "Thank you." He smirked.

Jacob was happily stuffing his face, and not speaking. He looked beyond stoked.

Marius sighed for a moment. "This is delicious, Astero. Thank you." He smiled, taking another bit of the cake.

Eri picked up her plate and chair, moving between Magdiana and Astero. "I love him too." She joked.

Astero chuckled. "I am flattered, but I think your husband might be a bit jealous." he said pointing to Marius.

"Really Eri?" He said shrugging.

"Really. I love my future son in law." Eri said bluntly.

"Mom!" Magdiana groaned.

Astero had inhaled some of the cake, and was coughing thanks to that. After several long moments, he looked to Eri. "Uh, don't you think you are jumping the gun a bit there?" He asked her with a raspy voice.

Eri didn't say anything. She just smiled, continuing to eat her cake before kissing Magdiana's temple. "Ah, yes. Years of embarrassment I missed."

"Wait…" Jacob said a bit confused. "Your going to be my brother?" He asked looking to Astero curiously.

"Jacob…" Magdiana looked at the boy. "I don't know about that, but… Astero, regardless, is kind of a part of the package when I'm around, so… you'll have to get used to each other." She turned and glared at her mother.

Eri looked at Magdiana and smiled. She didn't say anything, just finishing her plate and getting up to take Marius's before disappearing into the kitchen.

Astero looked to Jacob, and leaned in a bit. "I might not be your brother per-se, but if you want to hang out with me when i am around, that is fine by me." He smiled at the young boy.

Jacob thought it over for a moment. "You know how to fight? Right? Can you show me something cool?" He asked him intently.

"I can." he smiled at him, leaning back in his chair a bit and summoning his dagger before putting it away. "How about that?" he asked with a smile.

"Your like Wake!" He said moving in his seat.

Marius started to field the question, but Eri interrupted. "They have some similar abilities, but Astero will be arguably scarier after awhile."

"Yeah, he'll be able to swing at you, swing again, swing again, and again eventually." Magdiana said. "I know from experience. That hurts."

Astero looked at magdiana with a small smirk. "And then repeat that." He told her honestly.

"I need to learn that one." She commented.

"Give it time." He replied. "It just takes practice is all."

"I mean, you can't dagger dagger dagger, so…" she smiled.

He smirked back. "Not yet." He quietly replied.

"Soon." She promised. "Do you need to digest or are you good?"

Astero shook his head. "I'm good, ready whenever you are." he smiled.

She grabbed his hand and stood up. "Well, let's go to the front yard. I want to throw you around for Jacob."

Jacob gaped. "I want to see!" He yelled before zooming out of the room.

"One throw." Astero told her, holding up a finger. "After that it's free game." He smirked holding her hand as she lead him to the door.

"Deal." She smiled, giving him a small kiss as they walked outside. It was starting to get dark, so Magdiana grabbed a few rocks and started lighting them up randomly around the yard. While she did that, Marius and Eri made it outside next to a bouncing Jacob. "Should we go over the rules for their benefit or just go?"

"It's your family." Astero responded with a shrug, doing some stretches.

"Alright, so," Magdiana turned to her family. "We go until either the other one can't go or the other yields. No lethal blows, obviously, and no stabbing. Other than that, it's all fair game. We'll both keep the daggers aiming away from you all as well as the magic… unless I do an accidental spell again, in which case, I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing."

Astero stepped up to her. "You will be fine." He told her before backing up several paces. "You get the one take down. After that, it's on."

"Deal." She smiled over at him. "You ready?"

"Go, woman!" He yelled somewhat impatiently.

Magdiana didn't need any more prompting as she darted forward, doing a handspring, launching herself at Astero as her legs hooked his shoulders, and her momentum knocked him over, making both of them tumble down onto the ground. Magdiana landed on her back and did a jumping arch up, landing on her feet and drawing two daggers. She turned around to find Astero already on his feet, and casting a very familiar spell, which she tried to dodge out of the way of. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough, and was struck by a bolt of lightning. "Dammit, As!" She complained, hurling not two but three daggers at him, all of them hitting their mark.

Astero laughed. "Still concentrating, Mag." He said just before she was hit with another bolt of lightning.

"I can tell!" She shouted, throwing three more daggers. She had eight left. Her mind started spotting the ones on the ground as she cast a healing spell on herself and ran in close to get a swift stab in. Her strike was true, and she smiled at the little blood she saw coming from Astero's arm right up until the moment when she saw his smirk.

Astero pushed her, throwing her off balance before swinging his sword not once, not twice, but four times. All of the strikes hit, and, to make matters worse, she felt the bolt of lighting again. She winced. That hurt. She staggered back, almost falling, but catching herself before she did.

Then, she drew her daggers again. One of them felt different in her hand, but she paid it no mind, throwing them all hard and fast. The different one, however, lit up when she threw it. She gasped. She hadn't felt the way she had the last time she'd used a smite. The weapons struck true, but the new dagger was the one she was watching now. She saw it alight with fire, and a booming sound came from the hit. Before she could process anything, she was running to Astero.

When the dagger hit Astero, it took him off guard completely. It hit harder than the other daggers, and it made him lose concentration on his spell. He felt himself get knocked back and flying through the air, landing on his ass. He laid there panting for a moment before sitting up. "Okay, I'm out. Pretty sure you just broke a rib, also can't feel my arm." He said clearly in pain.

Magdiana fell down at his side, placed her hands on him, and tried to heal him, but nothing happened. "Mom!" She called out, starting to cry a bit. "I'm sorry, As. I didn't mean it."

Astero tried to pull the blade out and failed to do so. He looked up at Magdiana and placed a hand on her. "I know you didn't mean to." he said as calmly as he could, given the pain he was in. "Just do me a favor and take your blade out of my arm." He said wincing, as the blade hurt by simply staying in his arm.

Magdiana grabbed the blade and gave it a swift tug. The arm started to ooze, blood, and she winced. "I'm sorry."

Eri looked to Magdiana as she knelt beside Astero. "Since when can you Channel Divinity?"

"Since now, apparently." Magdiana cried.

Astero sighed in relief, and looked to Magdiana. Stop apologizing to me." He told her. "I knew that there was a chance something like this could happen. And I am still breathing. So calm down."

"As…" She grumbled, looking at him while Eri's hands lowered to touch and heal him. She watched as the flesh knitted itself together, looking to her mother. "What was that?"

Eri sighed. "Well, you're a cleric like me, so, when that dagger did its special damage, you amped it up. Like I can."

"So she hits even harder now…Great." Astero sighed, moving his arm again. "How am I going to keep up with you?" He chuckled at Magdiana.

Magdiana laughed a watery laugh. "You would be worried about that."

Eri smiled. "Well, it only works with fire and thunder, so, if you don't use that dagger, it should help."

"How was I supposed to know it did that?" Magdiana complained, looking between the two of them.

"Mag. It's fine." Astero told her seriously, looking her steadily in the eyes. "We know now." He pressed a hand to his ribs. "Oh, those are tender." Eri touched him again, and he sighed. "That's better."

Magdiana stood and offered her hand to him. "Let's go inside. I'm suddenly exhausted."

Marius looked at astero. "I'm guessing you could use a drink as well." He chuckled.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Astero chuckled back, standing up with Mags hand.

"Please?" She asked. "That was… nerve wrecking." She wiped her eyes a bit, but the puffiness of crying was still there.

Jacob was jumping up and down with vigor. "That. Was. Awesome! You guys are so cool!"

Eri rubbed her temples. "Alright, you. Go get ready for bed."

Jacob whined and slumped off. The wind totally taken out of his sails. Magdiana fought the urge to laugh. "He's kind of cute when he gets all excited like that."

"He gets excited a lot." Marius replied.

Astero chuckled. "Who does he get that from?"

Eri sighed. "I blame his grandfather… Marius."

"Yeah, it runs in the family." He smirked back at her.

Eri made a face. "He regaled an impressionable five year old about his adventures. And left out zero details."

"I can see the results." Astero laughed, and let out a yawn. "Now I am tired."

Magdiana looked to Astero, then to her parents. She was afraid to ask them the question she wanted to. Finally, she sighed. "Can… Astero stay?"

Eri looked to Marius. She had a neutral expression on her face that was impossible to read. She pursed her lips before speaking. "What do you think?"

Marius sighed a bit, and looked between the young couple. "Just for the night. I don't want this to become a regular thing."

Astero looked at Magdiana and smiled, before looking at her parents. "Don't worry, it won't. Honestly I might have more trouble sleeping here, than in the room at The Rook." He told them honestly.

"Good choice of words." Marius smiled at him. Now let's get those drinks."

"Yes please." Astero sighed happily, holding Magdianas hand as they walked.

Magdiana squeezed Astero's hand, looking over at him. "I'll sleep on the couch." She whispered to him. "I want to be close to you."

"That would be nice, I want you close to me." He whispered back to her.

Marius sighed softly. "Mag, you have a room, just sleep there. And for the love of Mask, if I hear anything other than snores. I will break more than just a rib." He told them seriously.

"Okay." Magdiana blushed. "Thank you, Dad."

"Don't worry about it, just don't make me regret it." He said, moving into the kitchen and pouring several stiff drinks. "Or these too." He said taking a swig.

Magdiana took a sip of the drink. "Damn. That's strong." She said, sitting down heavily in a chair.

Astero took a drink and sighed. "Thank you." He said sitting down next to Magdiana. "I needed this."

Marius chuckled. "Well it's good to know someone can handle their liquor." He said smiling at Astero.

"Hey!" Magdiana whined, but quickly grew quiet. She looked dizzy. "Nevermind."

Astero put an arm around her and held her close. "Sorry, she is a lightweight compared to me." He chuckled at her.

Eri picked up her glass and drank it in one glug. "More, please." She said merrily.

Marius chuckled and poured her another glass. "Yes dear." he turned to astero and mag. "And then there is this monster." He motioned to Eri.

"Wow… suddenly I feel much better about my drinking habits." Astero said mused to himself, taking another drink.

"What? I wasn't always a part of the clergy." Eri laughed.

"No she wasn't." Marius smirked into his drink.

Astero looked to each of them, and then to mag next to him. "What are your parents?"

"Dunno." Magdiana replied. "But, apparently, I didn't get their constitution."

"Don't worry." He said gently nudging her. "I will make sure you get to bed safely." He smiled.

"It's not that I'm worried about." She slurred.

"And what are you worried about?" He asked her quietly.

She just looked at him, not saying anything. She was wise enough not to speak at the moment.

Astero looked at her for a moment, and then nodded. "Ahh, gotcha." He said taking a sip of his drink.

Eri finished another cup. "Just one more for me, I think."

Marius nodded and poured her another glass. "I am going to call it there, personally." He told the group. "I need to work tomorrow." He chuckled.

"Ugh. Only two days off?" Magdiana asked.

"Yup, ain't no rest for the wicked, as they say." He smiled at her.

"Don't you, like… smite the wicked?" Magdiana laughed a little too loudly.

"Not as much as I used to." He smiled back at her, looking to Astero.

Astero nodded, and shook her lightly. "Come on. Let's get you to bed." He smiled at her, standing up and holding out a hand for her.

Magdiana finished her drink before stumbling into his arms. "Thanks." She giggled.

"Your welcome." he said holding her firmly. "Sleep well." He said waving back to her parents. "Now show me the way. I don't know where your room is." He quietly asked her.

Magdiana held him for support, stumbling her way to the room. She opened the door and whispered, "This is where the magic happens."

He chuckled and walked into her room, shutting the door behind them. He set her down on the bed and sat down next to her. "I didn't know you were a cheap date." He chuckled at her.

"That… was much stronger than elven wine." She complained.

"Well, dwarves are known for their whiskey." He smirked, taking off his shoes.

She fell down onto the bed. "I don't think I can get the… stabby things off."

He turned to look at her. "You mean daggers?" He chuckled, gingerly removing one from her leg.

"Yeah! Those." She laughed, leaning her leg into his hand.

He laughed, and began to remove the daggers from her person. Setting them on a nearby dresser. Once the daggers were gone, he looked her over. "And let me guess… you are going to have trouble removing your clothes too?" He asked her quietly.

She hummed. "Dunno, but you're welcome to do it for me anyway."

He leaned down and kissed her. "I figured you would say that." he said, unbuttoning her shirt and removing it from her, before taking off her pants.

"As…" She closed her eyes in enjoyment as his hands ran down her skin.

"Hey." He said lightly smacking her. "I don't want your parents to kill me." He said sitting her up and removing her bra for her. "I'm just getting you ready for bed is all."

She frowned. "Fine."

"Good girl." He said kissing her lightly, before getting ready for bed himself. He got into just his boxers and a shirt, before lying down next to her and pulling the covers over them. He pulled her close to his body. "Oh, I missed this." He said cuddling up to her.

"You need to kidnap me. I did too." She mumbled.

"Soon, I will sweep you off your feet, and we can stay together for another night." He quietly told her. "But I am okay with this for now." He said closing his eyes.

She whined. "What about tomorrow?"

He hummed it over for a moment. "Okay, I will kidnap you tomorrow." He chuckled softly.

"And the day after that." She added.

"As many times as I can before your parents get mad at me." He told her honestly.

"I just want to sleep good." She told him honestly.

He cuddled into her more, even though there wasn't much more room. "Same. You are really comfy." He said squeezing his hand lightly.

She cuddled into him and mumbled. "Love you." Before all but passing out.

"Love you, too." He said knowing full well she didn't hear it, before passing out himself.

Astero awoke the next morning feeling well rested, but a little confused about his surroundings, until he felt magdiana next to him. He let out a sigh of relief, and held her, enjoying her body next to him, before she woke up.

Magdiana grabbed her head and moaned in pain. "What did I do to deserve this?" She asked rhetorically.

"You drank dwarven whiskey. A singular glass." Astero said softly to her, seeing she was hurting. He rubbed her head a little, and held her. "I hope you at least slept well." he said to her.

"Like the whiskey stone at the bottom." She groaned.

He chuckled at her. "I wasn't expecting you to be such a lightweight, I pegged you for someone who could drink people under the table. But apparently your mom got that gift." he smiled at her.

"I don't drink much very often." She told him. "I do other stuff."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Ah, hard drugs, and sex girl. Gotcha." He joked.

"Not hard drugs, but herbs." She defended. "Nothing addictive."

"Oh, okay." He nodded at her. "That sounds more like you."

"Yeah. A nice body high on cold nights was good." She explained. "I need food."

A growl came from asteros stomach, and he laughed. "Yeah same." He said sitting up and stretching.

She stood up and started to get dressed. "I want another tattoo."

He turned to look at her. "Really? Of what?" He asked her, putting his pants on.

"Not sure yet, but it's been awhile. I want another one." She smirked.

He walked up and gave her a kiss. "Maybe I will get one too." He told her. "But let's save up for the house first." He said quietly to her. "Otherwise, we will never get a good night's sleep again."

"House, house, house." She repeated not for the first time.

"Exactly. Then we can go crazy." He smirked giving her another kiss.

"As?" She asked.

"Yeah?" He asked her.

She frowned. "We need furniture too. Don't we?"

He sighed. "Yeah. kinda hard to sleep on a floor." He said slumping his shoulders. "Okay we save up a bit more for a bed."

She eyed him. "Definitely need the bed."

"Yes. We. Do." He said giving her a longing kiss. He pulled away a bit. "Are you ready to get breakfast yet?" He asked her.

She put her last dagger in its holster. "Yep."

"Good, let's not make your parents think we are up to anything." He smirked, opening the door for her.

She shuddered. "I don't know what they'd do to ground an adult, and I don't want to find out."

"Same." He sighed and held her hand as they made their way downstairs.

She walked out of the room and quickly found a place at the breakfast table. "Morning." She said looking to her mother. "I see you don't have a hangover."

Eri chuckled at her daughter. "No, I only had the three glasses. It would take a few more to me to where you are." she giggled.

Astero laughed and sat down next to Magdiana. "That is impressive." He said looking at Eri.

"I hate you right now." She grumbled.

Eri laughed. "You're just jealous. It's okay. Need a pick me up?"

"Yes, please." Magdiana whined before Eri grabbed her hand, casting a restoration spell. She sighed with relief. "Much better. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Eri responded.

Magdiana looked to Astero. "I need to learn that."

"Oh yeah, that will be useful." He smiled at her, before turning to see Marius walking in. "good morning." he smiled at him.

"Morning." he smiled, waving back at the man. "So, did you two sleep better?" He asked, pouring himself some coffee.

"Like a rock." Magdiana responded quickly, digging into her food.

"Yeah, it was needed." He replied, following magdiana and digging into his food at as well.

"Good to hear." He smiled at them, before turning to Eri. "Well it's a good start to the multiple times we will be seeing him, don't you think?" He chuckled.

Eri chuckled back. "So long as he keeps bringing those delicious sweets. He can stop by anytime." She smiled at Astero.

Astero chuckled. "It might not be everytime, but I can bring them when I can." He smiled back.

Marius smiled. "Just don't make my wife fall in love with you more than you already have. Otherwise we will have a problem." He chuckled.

"Don't worry, I have my own issues with this one." Astero chuckled, turning to steal a kiss from Magdiana. "Don't need to worry about her as well."

"Hey!" Magdiana complained. "I'm not an issue."

"My arm still hurts from yesterday." He told her. "So between figuring all this out, and other things. Yes, yes you are." He smirked at her, gesturing to all of her.

"Do you think it'll feel better again? It did I like perma break you?" She asked him quietly. "I'm sorry."

He moved his arm a bit, feeling his movement in it. "Yeah it will get better, it will just take time." He told her. "And your fine, like I said before I'm still breathing." He smiled at her.

"Can you teach me how to control this stuff, Mom?" Magdiana asked. "This is getting out of hand."

Eri nodded. "I can, but it might take a while." she told her daughter. "It is a different type of training than you are used to. So be prepared for it to take a while."

"I'll do anything if it will help me from accidentally hurting Astero." She responded.

Jacob looked between the girls. "Can I train too?"

Eri sighed. "I'm sorry, Jacob, but I can't train you like that until your magic shows up."

Astero looked to jacob. "I can show some things. Are you good at memorizing things?" He asked him.

Jacob nodded. "Yeah, I can remember lots of stuff."

"Okay. Well, what do you think. Mom-in-law?" Astero asked Eri.

Eri started to choke on her eggs. She coughed several times before she finally said. "Um, that would be fine."

"Well it looks like you and I are going to be hanging out a lot." Astero smiled at Jacob.

"That is awesome! Can you show me how to make a weapon appear?" He asked intently.

"It is possible, but it won't be the first thing I show you." He smiled back.

"Sweet!" Jacob enthused.

"Good." Astero smiled, before looking to Magdiana. "You don't mind do you?" He asked her quietly.

She smiled. "Hey, I can't stop you. Besides, I get to see you more."

"It's a win-win situation." He smirked back.

"I need to get a dagger holster today. Did you need to get anything?" She asked.

"Yeah I need to pick up a few things. So I will go with you." He replied back.

Magdiana finished eating her meal and looked to her parents. "You need anything while I'm running errands?"

Marius shook his head. "Nothing that I can't pick up after work." He told them honestly.

Eri waved. "No. Go have fun."

"More cake!" Jacob yelled out.

Astero chuckled and shook his head. "Sorry buddy, if your mom says no. I can't do it." He told him honestly.

"Awww." He frowned.

Magdiana stood up and made her way towards the door. She held out a hand for Astero. "Let's go shopping."

"Let's." Astero said standing up, and grabbing her hand. "See you later." he waved to her parents.

"See you around." Marius smiled.

"Stay out of trouble." Eri smirked.

"Later!" She called, practically dragging Astero out the door. When they were out of the house, she sighed. "That was kind of nerve wrecking. Was afraid I was gonna say the wrong thing or something."

"Yeah, your mom is intimidating." Astero sighed, before holding her hand. "Now let's go do your shopping." He smiled.

"Another dagger holster. Where should I put this one? Hmm." She wondered aloud.

Astero placed a hand on her back where he knew one was. "I don't know, at this rate, you might be running out of space." He chuckled.

"I have my upper arms free still. Could get one more back holster. And, if I really want to get frisky, there's always my inner thighs." She gave her options, ending with an eyebrow waggle.

"Only if I get to help put it on." He smirked back at her.

"And take them off." She winked.

"Oh, well that's a given." He said pulling her close.

She smiled. "I thought that last night when we were drinking that I was going to do or say something so bad, As. Never let me do that again."

"I won't, and even if you somehow manage to do it. You would still need to get past me, and i know i could stop you when you are like that." He told her.

"You could stop me like this, if you had to." She sighed. "What the fuck is channeling divinity anyway?'

Astero shrugged. "I don't know, asking your god for help I guess?"

"I didn't even ask." She frowned. "He's a fucking trickster."

"Yeah, that is a god you would follow." He chuckled lightly at her.

"I didn't know who he was until a few weeks ago, and, now, I'm some weird holy avenger." She sighed. "And I shall smite all those who disagree with Mask's power." She laughed.

"Yeah, you are pretty weird." He joked at her. "My type of weird."

She leaned into him. "I still want to learn the fighter stuff, too. I'm going to be… weird."

"I will teach you." He smiled at her, and kissed her on the head. "You weirdo."

"Just call me a zealous Eldritch assassin." She laughed, stealing a kiss.

"It doesn't roll of the tongue as well." He joked back.

She thought for a minute. "How about extra stabby healy lady?"

"Better." He laughed. "Don't forget smite-y extra stabby healy lady."

"Is it bad that I want to smite the shit out of Wake sometime?" She asked more seriously.

"No. I want to smite him, he is an ass." He told her honestly.

She nodded. "Raze is his only redeeming quality, and her… enamored nature sours it."

He sighed. "Yeah… she closed the entire kitchen so I could make the cakes… the guys there were pissed at me."

She facepalmed. "That was unnecessary."

"I know. I am still nervous trying to figure out what I have sold my soul for." He shivered.

"Love." She smiled. "Thank you." Magdiana swiftly dragged him into a store and purchased what she needed before she turned to Astero. "What do you need?"

He walked her outside, and hummed for a moment. "I just need to pick one thing." He said picking Magdiana up and off of her feet and over his shoulder. "Okay I'm good." He chuckled.

"You're devious. I like it. So roguish." She told him as she looked at his butt while she hung out.

"So where to next? My room?" He grinned at her.

"Either that or to wherever you want to train or to look for an adventure." She gave options.

He thought it over for a moment and pointed in a direction. "Onwards to adventure!" He said playfully smacking her butt.

"Any chance that I can walk to adventure?" She asked.

He chuckled and put her back on her feet. "Yes."

"Where was that place that might have jobs again?" She asked.

"This way." He smiled, grabbing her hand and leading her to the direction of the docks. "It's near where I get stuff for the store."

Magdiana lit up. "Oh, yeah. Now, I remember."

Astero smiled at her and lead the way to the small adventuring shop. It was barely even noticeable on the main street, since it looked so worn down. The two entered to find that the interior was in much better shape, and well maintained. Astero looked to magdiana and smiled. "Tada."

"Well, it's not much to look at, but neither are you." She snarked.

"Says the one who stared at my abs." He replied walking over to a small board with jobs on it. "Any of these tickle your fancy?" He asked her.

Magdiana went to go read the board. "Rat extermination, too small time. That one's too far out of town. But…" She pulled one from the wall. "That's interesting."

He leaned over her shoulder and looked at the paper. "What have you found?" He asked her.

"People going in and out of an abandoned building at all hours. Suspicious. Sounds like… my kinda gig." She told him. "Either that or it's haunted."

"Or a cult." he added. "Either way let's do it. We could probably get it done tonight."

She nodded. "As long as you don't mind being tired for work tomorrow. It's our last day off."

"I'm tired most days at work. At least this will be better than crappy sleep, because I didn't have you next to me." He told her.

"I mean… if it goes too late into the night, I'll just have to stay at The Rook." She shrugged.

"That's what I was hoping." He smiled at her.

"Yeah." Magdiana smiled, looking at the offering price on the paper. "Woah."

He looked at the paper and did a double take. "500 gold pieces?" He whispered to her.

"Why?" She asked, looking the paper over further and realizing. "It's right next to the nice part of town."

Astero nodded. "So it's either going to be really easy, or really hard." He sighed a bit.

"Why do I get the sense that we're going to be stabbed?" She asked.

"At least we know how to stab back." he said, looking at her.

"I like that part." She took a deep breath, pointing towards the door and trying not to laugh. "To adventure!"

Astero smiled and followed her. "To adventure!" he chuckled, as they left the building.

"Straight there or wait for the late night stakeout?" She asked.

"I say stakeout." He said honestly. "It's still early, not even lunch time yet."

"Then, let's go fuck around in pajamas for a bit. I want to relax." She told him.

"Deal." He said moving in the direction of The Rook. "We can put that holster on you."

"Somewhere fun." She eyed him. "What is wrong with me? I swear, I'm not always like this."

"I know your not always this way." he told her. "I have been doing the same thing." He said eyeing her, and shaking his head a bit. "This is getting a bit weird."

She nodded. "Is there magicky bullshit going on or are we just super into the other's body?"

"Give me a second." He said waving a hand over her and then himself, He looked back to her, sighing a bit. "Really into each others body." He deadpanned.

Magdiana closed her eyes. "I can wait."

Astero nodded, and continued forward. "I can do this." He said quietly to himself.

"Do you think that it will help if we, like… decided the when?" She asked.

Astero looked at her thought it over. "Maybe?" He replied. "I don't think there should be a set day, but it might help."

"I was thinking… more like… if a certain condition is met. Not a set date like a schedule. More like… a goal? I don't know." She sighed. "We could just wait until we get the house."

He thought it over. "How about when we get the house… after this we will be over half way there, and then it will only be a little while longer after that. Deal?" He asked her seriously.

She laughed. "We're literally buying a house to fuck in. It's a fucking house."

Astero stopped, and nearly keeled over in laughter. He came up a minute later, and gave her a big kiss. "I love you." He smiled.

"I love you." She said, watching his reaction with interest. "I thought that it was a cheap joke, but it was worth your reaction."

"It took me off guard." he told her honestly.

"Well, then, let's hope that I can keep doing that in the future. That was great." She smirked.

"I am sure you will." He smiled at her.

The Rook was in view, she was ready to be around just Astero got awhile. She kept her eyes on a swivel for a certain tiefling, but she saw no sign of him.

Astero carefully made his way into The Rook, making sure to not be seen by a certain pair of tieflings as he made his way to his room. He carefully opened his door, and let the two of them in, before shutting and locking the door behind him. He let out a sigh. "Oh that's better."

She sighed as well, feeling her shoulders relax. "Why is this so nice?" She started to disrobe, but left every single one of the weapon holsters on her. "Seriously, where should I put the fifteenth?"

"It's nice because it's just the two of us." He told her, walking around her and seeing all of the daggers. "Well your legs are pretty much full, and you kind of need your arms. So why not here?" He asked placing a finger just below her sternum. "Keep that one close to your chest?"

She hummed. "Well, it'll be easier than the one on my back." She started adjusting the holster to fit with deft hands. When she was done, she held it out to him. "You wanted to help me, yeah?"

He smiled at her, and grabbed the dagger. He walked up to her, and gingerly placed the dagger in it's holster. "And done."

She bent and flexed experimentally. "Well, there will be no ab workouts with this one, but it's functional." She tested her speed removing it several times.

He moved over and sat on the bed, relaxing a bit and watching her. "You could always just do your crunches, before you put them on." He offered, removing his pants to relax.

"That's the plan… and it's planks. Mobile planks." She told him, starting to divest herself of the daggers on

"To each their own. I do planks and crunches, and 50 one arm push-ups per arm." He told her, explaining his workout a bit.

"Mines mostly agility and core. Planks, stretches, 10k, ladders if I have a good place to do them. Sometimes I'll even jump and flip around for practice." She shrugged as she removed the last dagger. "Do you have the identifying type of magic?"

He shook his head at her. "I only know two schools at the moment. Evocation and Abjuration. And I'm pretty sure that that spell is divination." He explained to her. "Sorry."

"It's fine." She slumped into the bed. "It was really more of an it would be nice sort of thing."

He leaned down and gave her a small kiss. "You will find out what it is eventually." He said softly.

"I am not patient." She retorted, kissing him back. "Get over here and shamelessly make out with me, please."

He leaned over top of her, and did just that. Kissing her long and passionately, running hands down her back as he did so. He pulled away after a moment to breathe a bit. "I have wanted this, all day."

He pulled away a few minutes later. "I know we said we would wait until we get the house… but I don't think we will last that long."

She leaned in to kiss him once more. "Does it feel wrong?"

"Gods no." He replied.

"As?" She asked.

"Yes?" He asked back, looking into her eyes.

"W-" She started. "Let's make love."

Astero paused for a moment, before nodding. "Okay." He said kissing her softly.

For the rest of the afternoon, the pair forgot about the world, simply enjoying each other's love and embrace. After a shower, the two were ready to face the rest of what the afternoon had to offer them.

She pushed him a bit. "You're an ass. Lucky I love you."

He pulled her close to him and kissed her. "I know, and I love you, too." He smiled into the kiss. "I didn't know that you were ticklish."

"Sometimes. I can turn it off when I have to. If we were fighting and you tried it, it wouldn't work." She pecked him on the cheek. "We should probably consider dinner before the adventure."

"Yeah, food always sounds good." He replied back. "What do you have in mind?" He asked her, thinking about food to make.

"I'm feeling protein, but I'm not picky right now." She blushed. "I'm a pretty standard fuck me then feed me kind of girl."

"I would much prefer that to some of the girls I have been with." He told her honestly before getting out of the bed and pulled on a shirt and boxers, before going to make food." Protein coming up." He smiled back.

She laid down and languidly stretched on the bed before rolling out of it and going to use the bathroom. When she returned, she stole another of his shirts. "You're never getting these back."

"I know how this works." He chuckled at her. "There are only two shirts that are off limits." He told me her, starting the food.

"Which ones?" She asked seriously.

"One is a band shirt from the time that bard group I liked came to Yutan. And the other one… well, it has a picture of a really cute chimera on it. It is adorable." He chuckled to her.

She smiled. "I know the two. They're all yours. The others are going to smell like me though, so you might wear them more."

"If you keep walking around wearing just my shirts, they will be getting much more use." He smirked back at her, stirring the food.

"I like your shirts. They're comfortable, so, yeah, I'm going to be wearing them… and nothing else." She smirked laying back on the bed in a way that flashed him a bit.

He licked his lips a bit, and focused on the food. "Please yes."

"I mean, we still have to be productive and workout and whatnot, but I'm also used to sleeping badly. So, you can keep me up late and I'll still sleep better than before." She smiled. "Should I just stop wearing underwear around you?" She offered with a smirk.

"I am not opposed to the idea." He smiled, walking over to her with a plate of food. "Ease of access." He grinned.

"I am not opposed." She sighed as she stretched. "What do you think is going to happen tonight? We gonna get fucked up?"

"Probably notas fucked up as what we do to each other, but we will probably take a beating." he told her, taking a bite of his food.

She started digging into her meal. "You know I love steak and eggs." She moaned. "Marry me… I did not say that."

"Well if your mom is anything to go by, yeah we will." He chuckled.

"My mom is… she comes on strong." She sighed. "I don't know how I feel about marriage. Not against it, but… we're so young. I mean… I know that people younger than us are married and have kids, but… I don't know. Guess I never thought of it until now."

"We can wait a bit." He told her. "I am in no rush. If and when we decide to get married, I figured it would be a while." He smiled at her. "As for kids… I don't know about you, but im a long way away from that." He told her honestly.

"Kids… are…" She shook her head and ate a couple bites of food chewing slowly. "Complicated. I think I'd rather not for a good long while. Full disclosure… I want a ring and a proper proposal if that happens."

"Of course, if I am going to propose, I am going to do it right." He smiled at her. "It will be after the house, which normally comes after marriage." he chuckled.

She laughed. "I don't expect it because we'll be having sex together in our house or anything." She looked over. "That sounded like it came on strong, but I mean it. I am fine with waiting. Mom could be pushy though. I don't know. I'm sorry."

"She is pushy, and I intend to wait." He told her. "We're still going to wait until we're both ready."

"Thank you." She smiled at him, finishing her meal. "It's getting late. When are we heading out? Sorry for using up the entire afternoon."

"I'm not complaining about today." He smiled at her. "I would do it all again, if I could."

She leaned into him. "So would I. I love you." She whispered, giving him a small peck on the cheek. "Let's get dressed."

"I love you, too." He smiled back, kissing on the cheek. "Yeah, let's go kick some ass." He said standing up and holding out a hand for her.

She grabbed his hand before practically skipping to her pile of clothes and starting to arm herself again. "Can I get help with the one behind my back again?"

"Of course." He said walking behind her and gently rubbing her back.

"I really like it when you do that one for me." She smirked. "Your hands make me tingle."

Astero ran his fingers against her skin, and wiggled his fingers a bit. "Anytime." He smiled at her.

She pulled on her shirt a moment later, pulling him in for a fiery kiss. "I love you." She told him with a smile before backing towards the door. "Let's go kick ass and take names."

"It's a good thing I don't care for names then." He chuckled, following her out of the door.

"Have you been there before?" She asked. "I've only really passed the area."

"Same, but I have a rough idea of where it is." He said honestly, holding her hand as they walked.

Magdiana looked over at the red tiefling as they walked by. "Later, Raze."

Raze waved the two of them off with a smile. "Bye!" She smirked.

Magdiana waited until they were out of the door. "Were we loud? I think she knows."

"Well… I don't think we were being quiet." He sighed honestly.

"Gods dammit." She cursed.

"Yeah… I'm sorry." He said rubbing her back.

"I have no regrets, but… fuck." She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

"Okay so she knows. It should be all downhill for her now." He said, thinking to himself.

She nodded. "She's not the problem so much as she'll talk to wake, and Wake will talk to my parents. I really, really don't want to have the talk again. I had it once already. I've had sex before. I know how it works. Oh, gods." She worried aloud.

"Calm down." He told her. "We are adults. We will be fine. I'm more worried about your mom." Astero sighed deeply.

"If any of this new stuff going on with me is something to go by, my mom is horrifying." She made a face. "I could be that gross one day."

He blinked a bit and then looked at her. "That's disgusting… and yet I want to see you be like that."

"Hey, I find your fighting prowess and strength attractive. I can't see why you would consider the same for me." She nudged him a bit playfully. "What's our game when we get there?"

He smiled at her. "I was thinking that you sneak in and scope the place out. Meanwhile, I will be outside until you get back looking around the outside." He said honestly, thinking it over.

"Sounds like a plan." She nodded. "You good if I bamf out on you?"

"Go for it." He nodded back. "You know i can take care of myself." He smiled.

Magdiana kissed him before sneaking off around the building and letting herself in. The door was hard to pick. Whomever made that lock didn't want others to get in easily. She lightly tread into the room, assessing the area for traps and other people. None could be seen. She walked in and started to investigate, finding that the bottom floor, at least, was currently empty. She didn't want to investigate the upper floors without Astero, and was about to turn around to retrieve him when the scraping noise of stone on stone came from seemingly nowhere. Her eyes darted towards the chimney, and she could see the bricks behind it moving.

"What the fuck?" She muttered to herself, dashing behind a couch for cover, and hiding.

A moment later, the sounds of two sets of footsteps appeared, and she heard one of them speak a word in a language that she didn't understand that was clearly a command word before the secret passage started to close again.

"Keep a close eye on the marks. Make sure you are not seen." One voice told the other silent one. He must've nodded because there were no other words spoken. After that, the door opened and two sets of footsteps left.

Magdiana waited several minutes before making her way out to Astero. "Well, I almost got caught."

He raised an eyebrow at her, looking curiously at her. "Really? Aren't you like super sneaky?" He asked her curiously.

"Sneaky, yes. Able to turn invisible in an open room when a secret door opens? Not so much." She explained.

"Okay, got worried there for a second. Thought that these guys might be better than we thought." He told her with a small sigh of relief. "So any people of note?" He asked her.

"Two. I was hiding, so I only heard code voices. One didn't speak. The other was a baritone… kinda like yours, actually, and it told the other to keep an eye on the marks. He also spoke a command word in a language I don't know. It sounded like… Chhharachhtass. I butchered that word, though."

Astero nodded. "Yeah you did. It's infernal. I speak it, so we can get in." He smiled at her.

"What did I say?" She asked curiously. "Or, rather, what did I mean to say?"

"Close. So I am guessing I just need to say open." He replied.

"Huh. Infernal is weird. Kind of… phlegmy… You know what? That's coming from the lady that speaks draconic, so nevermind. Ready to go in?" She asked.

"After you, they would know if I got in." He chuckled a bit.

She walked to the door and opened it. "I didn't want to re-pick this one, so I left it unlocked on my way out. This one… they really didn't want intruders."

"That means they must really have something to hide." He told her. "I'm curious now, why would they need to hide something in this district." He said quietly, as she opened it.

She pointed to the chimney. "Secret door." She pointed up. "Haven't checked. My guess is empty. As for the rest, your guess is as good as mine at the moment. Shut and lock the door."

He nodded, and did just that, silently shutting the door behind him and locking it. "Okay so do we just go straight for door number one?" He asked her pointing to the chimney. "Or upstairs?"

"Upstairs will probably be easier. Let's just check it over and come back for the secret door." She offered her opinion.

"Okay. Let's do that. Take out the few small things before going to the big thing." He nodded, happy with the tactics.

"Deal." She mumbled before leading the way upstairs. She peeked her head into the room before she entered, and saw no overt danger. "Clear… ish."

"Ish?" He whispered back. "What do you mean?" He said slowly looking around and seeing a singular sleeping man. "Oh… okay."

She looked at him, and made a face. "Guess I'm getting my hands dirty."

"If you want, I could make a small distraction." He offered.

"If you think the clear underling has information, we'll wake him. Otherwise, let's make it so there's not another potential enemy around here." She reasoned.

"Ok then. Sorry i'm not as quiet as you are." He told her.

She nodded. "It's fine. Kind of always wanted to use this ability." She took out one of her normal daggers and a vial. She uncorked the bottle and added a drop of her blood before coating her dagger in the liquid. She stoppered the vial again before making her way silently over to the man, covering his mouth from behind and slitting his throat, holding his neck back to put him down faster. She let go when she felt his movements cease.

He nodded at her and looked around the small room, there wasn't much there. "Good job. Not seeing anything else here. Ready to go to the door?" He asked her.

"Yeah." She told him, checking the body for anything of value and taking a few paltry gold pieces.

"All right." he replied, and began to slowly make his way downstairs. The room was empty and clear when they arrived, so they made their way to the chimney. Astero spoke the word, a chimney shook, the door opening for them. "Sweet it worked." He smiled, taking a step through the door.

She smirked, "I'm damned glad you know infernal for some reason. Oh, shit. You could speak to Raze and Wake like that."

"I could. But, I really just like listening to their conversations when they think no one is listening." He smirked back.

"They're adorable, aren't they?" She asked, sneaking forward. "They put on those faces, but they're probably sweet like candy."

"Like elven honey." He replied. "They act hard, but they are really nice, they just like to make people think otherwise."

A door came into view on the right. She pointed with two fingers. "Check it or pass it?"

"Check it, might be able to use it as cover if we need to on the way out." He said simply.

She tried the knob and found it locked. "Son of a bitch. Better be an easy pick or I swear to Mask there will be smites."

Astero chuckled a bit and kept a lookout for her while she worked the lock. "You got this."

She started to pick the lock and work the tumblers. She was actually sweating she was so tense. After a full minute, she finally heard the tell tale click, and she fell back on the floor. "They didn't want anybody in here." She told him. "Almost broke my tools."

He held out a hand for her to get up. "But you didn't. Now lets see what they are hiding." He smirked pulling her up, and opening the door slightly.

She put her tools away, and grabbed his hand, letting herself fully into the room after seeing no enemies. She saw a desk with several different items on it. There were papers and files, and.. "Is that a crystal ball? Like… for scrying."

He looked over at the ball, and nodded. "Uh, yeah. Why would they need to scry?" He asked her, moving over to look at the desk closer.

She looked at the names on the files and sighed. "Smites are happening." She grunted.

"Yes they are." he agreed, looking at a file with his name on it. He opened it up and saw that it had updated information. "Now they know where I work, and the room number I am staying at in The Rook." He grumbled.

She reluctantly opened her file. "They have Jacob's information in here." She looked ready to kill somebody.

He looked at magdiana and put the file away, before summoning his greatsword. "So… no more stealth?" He asked her, just as pissed.

"They're going to fucking pay." She muttered quietly, closing the file and putting it in her pack. She picked up the crystal ball and handed it to him. "Can you smash this? Preferably in their faces."

"Of course." He said taking the ball, and making sure he had easy access to it. "Let's go raise some hell." He said at almost a growl.

"Oh, there won't be an afterlife for them after I'm done with them." She promised, removing several daggers and several vials of poison before coating them. "Don't touch these." She told him as she handled the poison with gloves on. "It's contact poison… a nasty one."

He took a step back. "I'm not going to go near it." He told her, as he did a bit of stretching. "I won't need it for what im going to do to them."

"Good. I like your skin just the way it is." When she finished with the daggers, she looked at him. "You're going to look like an avenging angel aren't you?" She looked excited by the idea.

"If that means throwing a greatsword into a man chest chest from 30 feet out. Then yes, I will be an avenging angel." He smiled at her. "And you are going to be a murder blossom, with all of your daggers." He smirked.

She kissed him lightly before pointing to a pocket. "Go into this one and take a vial. It's the antitoxin… just in case."

He pulled her a little closer and reached in, pulling out the small vial. "Thank you." he said kissing her lightly back. "I will make sure to keep my distance from you, just in case."

"Honestly? More worried that I'll get myself." She replied. "Let's do this."

"Let's." He said, walking to the door and opening it.

"No more stealth, right?" She confirmed.

"No, they are going to know they fucked up." He told her honestly.

She nodded, "Good." Her eyes glowed and her voice boomed. The chamber shook a bit. "Time to play."

Nodding, he waved a hand and shot a fire bolt down the hallway. "With pleasure." He said marching down the hallway, sword drawn and ready. The fire bolt hit a door at the end, and a moment later a man opened the door looking confused. Astero took his Greatsword, and hurled it at the man. He fell back dead, the blade sticking out of his chest. Astero summoned it back, and stepped to the side for Magdiana to play.

Magdiana had four daggers in her hands, and, as soon as she breached the door, she threw all of them at four victims. Two of them stuck, embedding themselves deeply into the men. One of them grazed another, drawing a small amount of blood, and the other was caught by an enemy by the blade. She smiled. She saw two of the men immediately drop, and started to engage with the one who had caught her dagger. He was wiley, but he wouldn't be for long if the sudden discoloring of the veins in his hand were anything to go by.

When Astero entered the room, he saw that there were two already dead, one that Mag was fighting, and one who was hurting. He launched a fire bolt at the hurting one, burning his face and dropping him. He could tell mag had the one under control, and turned to open the next door. Before he could open it though, he felt himself being thrown back and onto his ass. He looked back to see a large human man, stand at about seven feet tall, and pulsing with muscle. He looked at Astero with a grin that had only three teeth. "God your ugly." Astero said standing up and charging.

The one who had caught her dagger was clearly a monk if his punches were anything to go by. She dodged high and low as many of his blows as she could, and slashed with her daggers at each opportunity until she was finally able to get her special dagger to glow with the power she'd struck Astero down with the other day, and she knocked him on his ass, finishing the fight with a dagger into his gut.

This big idiot that Astero was fighting now was giving him some trouble. He wasn't hard to hit, he just shrugged the hits off. And he hit hard, Astero had only been hit once, and made sure not to get hit again. He slashed his blade several times in rapid succession, cutting deeply into the thigh of the dumb one. The big guy let out a yell, and swing at Astero knocking him to the side, before turning to look at Magdiana. He took a step before getting blasted by a bolt of electricity from Astero.

Magdiana turned to Astero's fight, and saw the big galute fighting him. She winced as he was walloped, and she cast a spell more by instinct than anything. Holy light washed over him, and she followed it up by throwing a dagger that landed in his leg. His leg seized, and she saw Astero react to the hit.

Astero quickly got up and took the big guy off guard with two well placed hits, knocking him onto his back, before Astero plunged his greatsword into the chest of the guy, making his movements slow and stop. "Thanks." He said panting lightly, looking to mag and nodding.

"Welcome." She said, looking around. "Anything in that room?" She asked, seeing nothing of interest.

He looked into the room he was going to enter, and stepped off of the corpse. He looked around and saw two guys in the back corner. "Two more." He said unleashing a firebolt at one and stepping behind the door frame for cover.

Magdiana rolled into the room and did her blade lotus, kicking one of the men in the chest as he tried to charge forward. He fell back, twitching as the toxin took effect.

Astero waited a moment before walking in behind her, and looking around. "That can't be all of them right?" He asked looking at the relatively empty room.

"Maybe there's another secret door?" She offered. "Or they're not all here? There were two earlier that left."

"Then we look around, and wait." He sighed a bit annoyed that there wasn't as much as he would have liked.

"As?" She asked a bit nervously.

He turned to look at her. "Yeah Mag?"

"Your brother is kind of a dick." She deadpanned.

"Yeah… he is." He sighed.

She made a baleful noise. "Not my brother…."

"We will find him. And when we do, I want to have a nice long chat." He said meaning far more than what his words said.

"I'm sorry." She told him, grabbing his arm and soothing him.

"It's not your fault." He replied back. "He is my brother, I should be the one appoligizing to you." He told her honestly, his eyes looking a little wet.

She nodded sadly. "It's fine. I still love you."

He held her close to him, and rubbed her back. "Thank you. I love you." He said at almost a whisper.

She kissed him softly. "Let's take a short rest, and wait."

"Yeah… that sounds good." He said moving over to a table to take a seat.

She looked him over. "Need healing?"

He looked himself over briefly, before shaking his head. "I'll be fine, you heal yourself if you need to." he told her.

"I think I'll just rest up. I only really got punched by punchy Mcbritches over there." She told him, retrieving her daggers and cleaning them. "The daggers are safe to handle again."

He nodded, and cleaned his sword of the blood on it. "Alright." He said, just trying to relax a bit.

She sighed, sitting next to him. "I'm kind of feeling pent up still. That fight didn't feel very satisfying."

"Yeah, same." He said looking at her. "The only guy to put up a real challenge was dufus over there and even then it didn't last long." he said pointing to the large guy, before sitting back in the chair.

"You were very…" She made a little noise. "Well, I love you."

"So were you." He smirked at her. "I love you too."

"So, these guys were watching us… again." She sighed.

Astero sighed. "Yeah… apparently. At least it was just whereabouts." He shrugged.

"I don't like this at all, As. I don't feel… safe. Like we have to tread on eggshells." She sighed.

"I know, mag." He sighed. "it seems like he is always a few steps ahead."

"And I can understand it… To a point. What I don't understand is why he needs all this information. What makes me special? You're his brother… that, I can understand. I was… I should've been… nobody."

"No." he said shaking his head at her. "There was probably pretty good reason. You are strong, even i can see that. My brother… he must see something else in you that others can't." he told her. "Whatever it is… it hurts." He said with a light chuckle.

She chuckled at him. "He kind of made me this, As, but I know your meaning"

"He started it." He corrected her. "Pretty sure Yutan didn't teach you the ways of god stuff." He joked.

"So far, nobody has. It's pretty much just been a feeling out process." She said honestly. "I haven't exactly been trying. Mask is just really… pushy. Giving? I don't know."

"Chaotic?" He asked as a joke. "You will figure it all out. And you will be stronger for it all." He said giving her small kiss.

"Chaotic is good, I guess. He is the God of thieves and rogues, so… we're kind of… Our chaotic natures align a bit, I think."

"Yes you are." he smirked giving her a small kiss. "And I like it. Keeps things interesting."

She nodded. "The dagger I got seems to be made for the domain I seem to be… I don't know why. Seems like… again, why me, dude?"

"Maybe he saw the same thing in you that I do." he replied. "Or rather he knew what was going to happen... maybe he is a divination wizard."

This made her laugh. "I'm pretty sure that he probably started out as a rogue and just ended up being… The Rogue."

"Well I knew my parents were pretty smart. Soo… there's a chance." He sighed. "You are probably right though. That makes the most sense."

"I have a question for you…" She began. "Why Eldritch Knight? Why not champion or something?"

"Oh…" He said a little taken aback by her question. "Well, my mom was a wizard, and my dad was a fighter." he told her. "It was the best of both worlds." He smirked.

She shuddered a bit. "Wizards can be scary. Like… world alteringly scary."

"Yeah… my mom could be terrifying." he chuckled.

""Do you know what type? You said you only know two schools right now." She commented.

"Evocation." He replied.

She made a face. "So, pain. My mom and her probably would've been friends."

"Yeah, they would have." He smiled at her.

"I wish I remembered her." She said. "It's kind of a blur."

"Yeah… me too at times. I wish i had a picture." he sighed. "Some days it gets hard to remember her."

She kissed him. "I'm sorry. I love you."

"It's okay. If we can someday go back to yutan. I know I left a picture there." He told her. "You would like the picture."

"I'd love to see it." She told him, head tilting. "Do you hear that?"

Astero turned his head, and heard the noise, it sounded like footsteps. "Yeah." He said readying his dagger.

She stood up and armed herself. "Sounds like… hallway."

"Yeah." he said following her closely behind. "You lead, I'll follow."

She started to sneak towards the door to the hallway and leaned in to get a good look. "There's three, but one of them strikes me as boss like. The others just look like enforcers."

Astero nodded, and readied his greatsword. "I'm ready whenever you are." he said placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Let's do this." She smiled, dashing down the hallway and using her roguish abilities to take the first enforcer down in one quick stab, making him fall in a pool of his own blood.

Astero followed quickly behind her, running into the other enforcer and impaling him. His body falling to the ground dead. He quickly removed the blade and pressed his sword to the boss's throat. "Give us one reason why we should keep you alive." Astero growled, holding back his anger, but just barely.

Magdiana moved behind to flank the boss, holding her daggers at the small of his back and throat respectively. "Go ahead." She ordered.

The man looked confused as his two guards had suddenly dropped dead, and he was now held at blade point. He moved slightly, and could tell he wasn't moving without immediately dying. "Because, whoever you are. I can pay you handsomely to keep me alive." He said pleadingly.

Astero growled. "Fuck your money." He growled. "Tell us about your boss, and why you are here." He said pressing the blade harder gainst his neck.

The man frowned, he really didn't want to tell them, but it either die here, or die at a later date. "We are here… or rather were here, because our boss told us to. We needed to follow two kids. Had the other ones do that. I don't even know their names." He told them.

"And your boss's name?" Astero said sounding angry.

"If I tell you, he will kill me." He replied nervously.

"I will kill you!" Astero yelled, punching him in the face.

Magdiana leaned in and muttered into the man's ear. "I have poisons on me that will make your life so agonizing that you will spill every secret you've ever had without a thought. Tell him."

The man shook his head, not as an answer but because he knew he was dead either way. "His name is Rivin Vosson." He told them. "He told us to just stay here and watch some kids. I Swear."

Astero yelled and punched the guy again before retreating angrily. "Of course it was fucking him!" He yelled out loud.

Without thinking, Magdiana impaled the man through the neck with her dagger. She coldly watched him drop between the two of them before putting a hand on Astero's chest. "It's okay, As."

"No it's not, Mag." He said looking at her angrily. "That means he was probably here recently. You probably heard him earlier." He sighed, looking at the ground. "We could have got him."

Magdiana sighed. "Do you really think it would be that easy? That Wake and The King can be searching for him for years and not find him, but we'll make a difference? Because, yes, we're strong, but I'm willing to bet that we wouldn't have gotten him. We would've probably ended up on the wrong side of that. Kidnapped… or worse."

Astero made a face, and sighed. He pulled her in and hugged her. "I'm sorry… this is just a shit storm to deal with for me right now… you are right." He sighed into her, simply holding her. "I'm sorry if I come across as an ass."

"It's fine. My feelings aren't hurt. You have family shit going on. So do I… it's just different." She searched the body of the boss and found some coin on him, but that wasn't what she was looking for. Finally, she found an insignia on him that she didn't recognize. It looked like a fox with a mask on it. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "This should be enough to collect payment and tell them it was cult activity. Yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded to her. "It should be more than enough."

"I didn't see anything else if value around here. Let's get the fuck out." She told him, grabbing his hand.

He yawned a bit. "Let's go get sleep before we need to go to work tomorrow."

"I need to make more poisons. I just used a fuck ton of money." She groaned. "I don't want to spend our money…"

"We might have been overpowered for these goons." he replied back. "Assuming we still get the money, we should be fine to spend a little bit."

"But… house." She told him quietly.

"We will get the house." he said wrapping an arm around her. "But we still need to be ready, for my Brother… and Wake." he chuckled a bit.

She nodded. "Okay. More necrotizing aquitoxin it is."

"Yeah that shit was nasty. You need more." He told her.

She looked at him with a smirk. "I haven't gotten the opportunity, but… I'm told that it's very effective on water based creatures. Thus, aquitoxin."

"Maybe we can go swimming later, and test it." He smirked back.

"I keep imagining a water elemental just… wilting, and the image is pretty cool." She said as they made their way out of the hidden area.

"An elemental turning into jelly is in my mind." he chuckled. "Should I shut the door or leave it open?" he asked her.

She thought for a moment. "Close it. If there's any of them left, they'll get a nice warning."

He spoke the word, and turned to Magdiana. "Okay, to bed?" He said letting out a yawn.

"Should we collect the money first?" She asked. "Or do you think they'll wait to pay it out?"

"Was there a time limit? If so let's just go collect it now, and get it over with." he said just wanting to get this over with.

She pulled out the flyer and sighed. "Yeah, we've gotta go."

"Fine… lets go get paid." He said a little grumpy.

"You'll sleep better with five hundred gold in your room." She whispered into his ear. "I should probably lock the door, huh?"

"Yeah. Lock the door." He told her,leaning on her a bit. "Yeah I want the gold."

She used her tools to lock the door, and started to shuffle with him towards the shop again. "That was… too easy."

He nodded at her. "Yeah… it seemed like this was a test."

She took a deep breath. "We just did what he wanted. Didn't we?"

"More than likely." he sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry." She sighed.

"It's fine." He said looking at her. "Not your fault."

She looked at him back, giving him a small peck on the cheek. "We'll get through this… together."

"Together." He smiled back, pecking her on the cheek as well.


	10. Gambit

As they rounded the corner, their destination came into view. "Is it bad that I'm hungry again?"

He chuckled a bit. "No. I am hungry too. But I am not cooking." He told her.

"Well, hopefully, the kitchen guys aren't angry at you still." She smirked, reaching to open the door of the shop, but being cut off by Astero opening the door for her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. And If they mess with me, I will kill them." he told her following her into the building.

She laughed a bit. "Someone's hangry." She commented, walking in and up to the counter with their flyer and proof of completed mission.

The pair waited for a few minutes while the man completed another transaction before stumbling over to them. He looked like a former adventurer, and his limp spoke of his many adventures for him. "You two work quick." He commented, remembering the pair from earlier in the day. "Let's see what you've got."

Magdiana handed over the flyer and the symbol. "We took this off of the leader there. Seems like some sort of… cult activity or something." She hedged around the subject.

The man nodded, waving his hand over the object and nodding a few minutes later. "Seems to check out." He said, looking between the two of them almost with a bit of fear. "I'll get your pay."

Magdiana's eyebrow raised and she looked to Astero before she asked the man. "What was that? Looked like a spell."

"It's called object retelling. Can go into the past of that object to see where it came from. Your story checks out, but they don't always." He responded, coming back over to them with a sack of coin. "Here you go, and thanks for your services."

Astero took the coin and stowed it in his pack. "Thank you for the work." He said before turning to leave.

"No problem have a wonderful night you two, have fun!" The man smiled at them.

Magdiana looked at Astero and then back to the man. "Thanks." She said, starting to walk towards the door. "I'm too tired for that level of happy." She quietly muttered to Astero.

Astero shook his head. "I am also too tired for that… cuddling yes. No physical activities for the rest of the night." He quietly replied.

"Wasn't planning on it." She winked at him.

"That wink, suggests more than what you just said." he told her. "Let's just get to The Rook, get naked and sleep. Okay?" He asked her with a yawn.

"Works for me. I'm more than happy with that plan." She pushed the door open, and held it for him.

He walked through the door, and grabbed her hand before dragging her to The Rook. They went up to Asteros room, went in and slumped down onto the bed. Astero turned to Mag. "Let's not go adventuring again anytime soon. Sound good?" He asked, starting to take off his clothes.

"Deal." She replied, starting to disarm and strip.

He watched her disrobe for a moment and took off the remainder of his clothes, before moving the covers for her to join him.

Magdiana left the room to use the facilities before joining him in bed. She crawled into bed next to him, and laid her head on his arm, but she was facing him right now rather than away. She kissed him. "I love you, Astero." She told him, looking deeply into his eyes. "Sleep well."

Astero looked back into her eyes, kissing her in kind. "I love you, Magdiana." He smiled softly at her, and pulled her close to him. "Sleep well, too."

She started to turn around to get comfortable. Her eyes were closed, but her mind was far from sleep. Her training told her that something was still up, but she wasn't sure what. She had heard Rivin earlier on in the day while she was hiding. It sounded like Astero, but slightly different. She knew now that he wanted them to clean out that building for some reason and that they were still being watched. She still didn't understand why, but that might come with time. But, why couldn't she rest? Her mind kept going over the day over and over until she eventually, and rather reluctantly turned her head to look at Astero. "As? Are you still up?"

Astero stirred slightly and opened an eye at her. "Yeah. But barely." He yawned.

"That shop keep… he wasn't the same one from earlier in the day, was he?" She asked.

He thought it over in his head for a moment before opening both eyes. "No he wasn't." He said looking at her more intently.

"He sounded like you." She told him, suddenly realizing she was shaking in his arms.

He held her, but was shaking as well. Not out of worry, but of anger. "That bastard. He gave us the fucking coin and…" astero stopped, and got out of the bed. He ran over to grab the coin pouch, and dumped the contents on the table. Out of the pouch fell the coin, and a note. He opened the note and read it.

"Dear Astero,

Glad to see that you have found somebody that you can trust. I hope that you two get along well together, and are confident in each others abilities. I am saddened that you two talked to Wake, but you will understand in time. In the meantime, thank you for taking care of those loose ends for me, you both did a wonderful job. Hope you two both find a nice house together. I will be seeing you around.

Your Brother,

Rivin."

Astero was shaking in anger, before throwing the note across the room. "That fucker!" He yelled.

Magdiana stood up and held him for a minute, pressing her body against his. "It's okay, As. Calm down." She told him, kissing his chest before speaking again. "We will… just have to assume that we're being watched from now on. Until we can figure out a better way."

He sat down on the chair, just holding her close to him. "We shouldn't have to be on guard at all times… that's fucked up." he told her. "He knows so much about us, and we know literally nothing about him… it's… hard, Mag." He said crying into her.

She stroked his hair calmly. "I know, As. I'm so sorry. I wish that I had a better solution, but… it looks like we keep getting scryed on. I don't know about you, but I can't stop that."

He sniffled, and looked up at her, shaking his head a bit. "No, not at the moment at least." He said resting his head against her. "Or buying a magic item to stop it." He added.

"There's not much we can hide at this point." She said, squeezing him a bit. "Both of those files from Yutan and here… we have to assume he's seen it all. If it were me, I'd have copies for myself. Some peon wouldn't have the only copies."

He sighed and nodded. "More than likely… it's just annoying is all. He knows more about you than I do. And I have known you for most of your life." He said looking up to her. "And I don't want him to. I want you for myself." He said honestly, squeezing her a bit and holding her close.

She held him for a minute before extricating herself from his body and going to get her pack. She dug through it before handing him her two files. "I have nothing to hide." She told him before moving away. "I'm burning that letter." She picked up the offending document and did just that in the small waste bin in the room. The smoke made her cough and splutter a bit.

He gently took the files, and placed them down on the table. He moved to his bag, and pulled out his files. He walked over and handed them to her. "And I have nothing to hide from you." he told her, giving her a small kiss, before going back to the table. "And thank you."

She held the file in her hands for a moment before joining him at the table. "You're welcome."

He smiled at her, and looked down at the files in his hands. He didn't open it yet, he was a bit nervous, he was holding very sensitive information on Mag in his hands. He almost didn't want to, but he sighed and opened it. He could live with whatever was inside these files.

"Hey, As?" She said, blushing.

"Yeah?" He asked her.

"When you get to the transcript of every word I said while high from fumes at the shop…" She paused for a minute. "Please don't laugh too hard."

He chuckled at her. "I promise I will try." he smiled at her, before he remembered something. "And mag?" He asked her with a similar blush.

"Yeah?" She mimicked his response from before.

"When you get to the part where I was completely shitfaced, I apologize in advance." He said frowning. "I said some things about you." He told her honestly.

She laughed a bit. "I was purposely being vague… I said some things about you."

"Okay good to know." He smiled back at her, reading carefully through the file.

"Aww, I don't remember your lisp." She sighed as she flipped a page.

"Yeah that took me a while to work through." he chuckled back, before looking up at her and into her eyes. "Huh… one eye is slightly different color."

She nodded. "Yeah. One is like a chocolate. The other is chestnut."

"I like it." He smiled. "It makes you unique."

She gazed at the file for a bit. "Hypothermia… at age four. You almost died."

"Yeah… the lake wasn't fully frozen. One of the reasons I never really learned to swim." He sighed.

"Can you check something for me?" She asked. "What day did I end up in the temple with an unbreakable fever? The dates…" she trailed off.

"It says Aubergine 16th." He told her. "And yeah… they are really accurate." He shivered a bit.

She moved his files closer to hers, pointing at the date she was looking at. "And, a lot of them coincide."

He made a face at her. "The same day I was sick too." He said sitting back. "You think they planned it?"

"I almost died of that fever too." She told him. "That's… Evermore was too damn small for two kids almost dying simultaneously to be a coincidence."

He looked at her, and then ran through several pages. "Look for the time at the dance, I went home early because I got called out, then we had that fight remember?"

She pulled out the papers and scoured them before reading them over. "I remember this." She murmured. "My parents made me leave early because I hadn't trained that day."

"I was called out, and needed to wait for the elders, we just happened to be in the same place at the same time…" he said trailing off, before scouring her file quickly, looking for one in particular.

"What are you looking for?" She asked.

"The day when i found out my parents died. When you kissed me." he said rifling through the papers and finding the day. He read it over and his mouth dropped open. He looked at mag, and handed her the paper with the note that was attached. It read 'the two are getting too close to one another, must start causing issues to get them to dislike one another.'

She paled. "Oh, As…"

He just stared at her, before standing up and hugging her tightly. "We could have been this way for much longer."

"I hate them." She started to cry into him.

"I know. I do too." he said with tears in his eyes. "We could have…" He trailed off thinking of all the different outcomes.

"I know." She nodded into him. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry." He said holding her tighter. "All of the shit things i have said to you, the bruises, the cuts." He said listing off all of the wrongs he had done.

"They taught me how to make and use poisons. I used them on you." She sobbed.

"Mag." He sobbed, just holding her close to him. "I am sorry for everything."

"No. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, As." She murmured, holding him.

He held her tight, simply crying for several long minutes. He caught his breath and looked at her. "I forgive you, and everything you ever did to me." He said resting his head on hers.

"And you're already forgiven." She told him. "I love you."

"I love you." He said kissing her softly. "More than life itself."

"We might've been a couple for so long. We could've…" She trailed off, stopping herself, but sobbing anyway.

"We could've done so much more together. Been friends, and couple, even our first times." He said with wet eyes.

She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. "We might have gotten married. There's a lot of things we could've done if they hadn't stopped us."

"They fucked us out of having a normal childhood, friendship and even a relationship." he said annoyed, but calmed himself down. He looked down at her, and chuckled a bit. "They fucked with us for so long, trying to keep us apart, and we still ended up together." He smiled at her.

"I'm not sure if that is persistent or lucky." She mirthlessly chuckled.

"I say it is both. We were lucky we were so persistent with one another." He said rubbing her shoulder a bit.

She breathed quietly in his arms for a few minutes. "Can we sleep? Please. I'm so tired."

"Yes we can," he told her, letting out a yawn. "I still haven't slept yet… tomorrow is going to suck." He sighed, picking her up and bringing her to the bed.

"Tell me about it. I have to sleep at home tomorrow or face the collective wrath of both of the smiting parental units." She grumbled.

He placed her down in the bed, before laying down next to her. "Fuck, i forgot about that." He said putting his face into the pillow. "Can I just steal you back here again?" He asked her.

"I'll leave my window open. Just sneak in. I don't want to push my luck more than I already have lately." She mumbled.

"Okay." he said holding her close. "I will try to get off early and walk you home." He softly spoke to her, sleep starting to hit him.

"Don't worry… about early. Probably a long shift tomorrow." She sighed, nuzzling into his chest. "G'night."

"Night." He mumbled, as he began to gently snore.

The sunshine rose before either of the two lovers the next morning, and it was almost simultaneously that they awoke in panic, Magdiana sitting up and looking outside. "We're late." She murmured before processing her words. "Shit. We're late!" She scrambled out of bed and over to her pack.

"Oh fuck!" he said jumping out of the bed and beginning to get dressed. "Of all the goddamn days for this to happen..." He grumbled, putting on pants as fast as he could. "It had to be the start of the fucking week."

"Yep!" She grumbled, pulling her shirt on and ignoring her dagger holsters. "Fuck. I don't have time for the weapons."

Astero quickly pulled on the few remaining pieces of clothing, before grabbing the first dagger he could find and placing it in her hand. "Then just hold onto the the one." he said stealing a quick kiss from her before bolting out of the dor. "See you later, love you, bye!" He said rapidly.

Magdiana finished dressing, threw her daggers in her bag and started to sprint to work. When she arrived, Charles had already opened up, and a few customers were milling about. She panted as she walked behind the counter. "It's a long story. I'm so sorry."

Charles looked her over and saw how much of a mess she looked. He looked upset, but, surprisingly, his words didn't say as much. "I've gotten several orders while you were gone. They're on your workstation. And, I need you to work eighth ninth and tenth day for a week or so while I hire a new weekend girl."

"Thank you." Magdiana muttered, stepping into the back and getting to work. Today would be a long day.

Astero ran through the door, and directly into the kitchen. He saw a disgruntled Gordan, and put up his hands. "Look, i'm sorry. Some stuff came up last night, so I slept in on accident." he told him, quickly starting to get the food prepared for today.

Gordan shook his head at Astero. "I expected this to happen someday, just not so soon." He told him honestly. "Please don't make this a habit. I am not as young as you." He said to the young man.

"I promise. It will only be a rarity." he said getting dough ready for a large order for later in the day. He was going to be earning his keep today.

Magdiana looked at the sky when she left the shop. It was late. Already past sundown. She automatically started to shuffle towards The Rook, but remembered that she needed to go home. Then, she remembered Astero. Was he out of work? Her brain was fried from dealing with intricate and potentially deadly recipes all day, and some idiot customer had said, 'surprise me' with a 500 gold limit. That left her with a lot of options. Her feet automatically lead her to the sandwich shop that Astero worked at, and she was surprised to see that it was still open. The door rang when she walked in, but nobody was around. She started towards the kitchen. "As?" She called out.

"Just come on back, Mag!" She heard him call out.

She stepped into the kitchen, and saw Astero doing dishes like a madman. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. "I love you." She mumbled, closing her eyes and leaning into his body. "I've gotta work like… two tenday straight to make up for today. Charlie looked face meltingly pissed."

"Gordon was a bit more understanding." Astero responded simply. "But still pissed. Why do you think I'm on late night dish duty?"

She let go of him, and looked at the stack of dishes with a sigh. "That stack of dishes is literal nightmare fuel for me." She told him, stepping over to the left side and starting to scrape and wipe the soiled dishes into the trash, handing them to him so he could clean and sanitize them properly. When she'd finished the task, she pulled the trash bag out of the bin and tied it. "Where's this go?"

He pointed to a door. "Dumpster is out that door. There's a brick right beside it to prop the door open so you don't have to go around to the front again."

"Anything else that needs to go out?" She asked, looking around.

"Nope. Took it all out earlier when we closed for the night." He told her.

"Alright. Be right back." She told him, stepping outside and propping the door open as she went. She kept her eyes on the swivel as she walked out, tossed the trash away, and returned inside. She closed the door, and checked that it was locked. "Done." She announced as he finished the last dish.

"Okay, let me just mop really fast and we can go." He said going to a small closet and getting the mop and bucket. He did as he said, and in a few short minutes he walked up to her and gave her a big hug. "Done, let's get out of here." He said giving her a kiss.

"I'm done here. Let's head out." He pulled her close and kissed her forehead before moving to hold her hand as he lead her out the door, locking up behind him. "We need to run to The Rook really quick before going to your place. I left all of my shit there this morning." He told her quietly.

She nodded. "Were there leftovers today? Given the time, I'm not sure if there is still dinner at home."

"Yeah, I've got some. We'll be fine regardless." He smiled down at her, matching her pace as they walked towards The Rook. "You're sluggish today."

"You're right. Among all the shit storm, I also started lady time. I feel like death." She leaned into him for support.

He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and gave her a soft kiss on the temple. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." She said, eyes closing tiredly. "It happens every month. I should be used to it."

He looked a little stern. "You're in pain. I can see it in your eyes."

"Yeah." She nodded. "I took a remedy earlier. Took the edge off, but I might just smoke something to help."

"You're gonna smoke at your parent's house?" He asked her before they walked into The Rook.

She followed him upstairs. "Yeah, I am. It helps with pain and requires no magic or training on my part."

"Okay." He shrugged, packing his bag with a few things, and grabbing her hand again. "Let's go."

She followed him out of the room and waited while he locked the door. As they walked downstairs, she looked to Raze. "See you later."

Raze nodded and waved. "Good to see you, Mag." She turned to her husband with a frown. "You are leaving in the morning."

"I know." He frowned back, pulling her close. "But it will only be for a few days."

"Go get some rest." She sighed. "You will need it." Wake smirked and walked away into their room.

Magdiana's ears picked up the conversation. "Shit, As. Did you hear that?" She asked when they were well out of earshot.

"You want to prank him now, don't you?" He asked a bit tiredly.

"Yeah." She nodded with excitement.

"Fine… it would be when he least expects it." He chuckled. "Let's go prank a pirate."

She rubbed her hands together. "I'm glad that I have everything we need… except for the flour, but I can improvise. I think that I have talcum powder on me."

"Why in the nine hells do you have talcum powder?" He joked.

"As… daggers can chaffe when placed in certain places. It's a necessity." She deadpanned.

He facepalmed. "Too much information."

"You asked." She shrugged, looking around the docks. "You coming or are you on watch?" She whispered.

"Oh, I need to see this with my own eyes." He smirked, looking around imperceptibly before making his way forward with her as point. Their footsteps were silent as they snuck up the gangplank, and quietly let themselves into Wake's cabin. Astero closed the door behind them as Magdiana opened her pack for supplies. "I believe that the plan was threefold. One, puff of powder in the face. Two, drawer hits his groin. Three, all of the drawers open and close simultaneously in annoying fashion."

"Everything you just said are reasons why I'm glad that you're on my team." Astero told her with a smile.

She smiled back. "Which one do you think is at proper groin height?" She asked, while grabbing the supplies to springload a drawer.

He stood next to the dresser and pointed to the one he thought was best suited. "This one should do the trick." He told her with a grin.

She pulled the drawer open and started to arm the drawer, as it were. When she was done, she tested it, and the drawer popped right out. "Oh, yeah. That'll hurt."

"Oh yeah." He said covering his bits. "I am glad i am not going to feel that one." He chuckled.

"And, you're the one who suggested it." She laughed at him, opening the top drawers, trying to find which one was most likely to be opened first. "I did not need to know what under clothes he prefers."

Astero looked around the drawers. "If it were me, I would go with underwear." he told her. "Either he will open it at night, or first thing in the morning." He smirked.

"You're evil. I love it." She grinned, starting to load up the drawer with everything needed to make talcum powder fly into Wake's face.

"I have pulled a few pranks in my day." He smiled. "Some of them were much worse." He grinned evilly.

She smirked. "Oh, I would love to hear about some of those." She said, closing the drawer and starting to set the drawers up for opening simultaneously while still springing the other two traps. Before they left, she made sure everything was back in its proper place. "Am I forgetting anything?"

He hummed it over in his head. "No I don't think so. Unless you can?"

"Actually. I did forget one thing." She leaned in to kiss him.

"So did I." he said kissing her back. "Are you ready to get out of here and sleep?" He asked her.

"Food first. We skipped dinner last night and breakfast this morning and my metabolism hates me right now." She told him honestly.

"Then let's you get food." He smiled at her. "I already ate at work, so I'm fine for food."

She nodded. "I'll eat anything." She said as they walked out of the room and she locked the door behind them.

"I know you will." He chuckled. "Pretty sure I could half-ass a meal, and you would still eat it."

"You are not wrong." She told him with confidence. "I'm pretty sure your not trying is eons ahead of my best attempt. That's another thing.. if we'd gotten together sooner, I'd be fat and sassy."

"You wouldn't be fat." he chuckled. "Sassy yes, but not fat. I make pretty healthy meals."

She nodded. "Healthy, yes, but I would be tempted to eat four portions instead of my usual three."

"If the other night was anything to go by, we would have burned the calories off one way or another." He said slightly nudging her.

"Wake and Raze are going to have deja Vu." She chuckled, changing the subject as her mind wandered to their activities.

"Well. I think Raze will. I saw Wake go into their room." He chuckled back.

She thought for a minute. "Oh… yeah, they won't be a problem. He doesn't sleep. She told him to rest…"

He chuckled. "Those two are incorrigible." He sighed.

"And, that's after a decade." She shivered. "I bet they were unbearable a decade ago."

"Oh gods… I can actually see it." he groaned. "I am glad we are not that way." He smiled at her.

"As, we kind of are that way." She laughed. "We are just much more private than… that."

"We will just need to keep the noise down… until we get a house." He smirked.

She made a face. "I will try."

He rubbed her shoulder a bit. "If you need to just cover your mouth with a pillow." He told her. "It works rather well."

"I just want you to hear what you do to me… and I don't realize how loud I'm being in the moment." She told him. "I don't need a pillow. I just… want those sounds to only be yours."

"And I will hear them. I love all the sounds you make." He told her honestly. "I just don't want anyone else to hear them. And your movements are equally as wonderful too." He smiled.

She waggled her eyebrows. "Those are all yours."

He looked at her and smiled. "Good." He said giving her a small kiss. "Now let's get food before you mount me." He said seeing the look in her eye.

She sighed. "Maybe we…" She paused for a long moment. "Maybe we shouldn't cuddle for a few nights. I don't know how I'll react to you holding me while practically naked."

"We can try a night. Worst case scenario, I throw you off of me." He told her.

"Okay." She told him quietly. When they made it to The Rook, one of the usual barmaids was manning the front instead of Raze. Magdiana's eyebrows rose to look at Astero.

"Yes you were right." He chuckled at her.

She chuckled. "I didn't say anything."

"I know what you were thinking." He said looking at her, before turning and ordering food for her.

"Thank you for not cooking after cooking all day." She told him. "I don't want you to kill yourself working."

"Don't worry, I know my limits. That's why I didn't want to cook." He replied, sitting down at a table. "Also i don't want to stand any longer." He sighed as he sat down.

She sat down beside him, leaning into his side. "I love you." She told him, closing her eyes.

"I love you, too." he said kissing the top of her head. He nudged her slightly. "Come on, stay awake long enough to eat."

"I'm up. I'm just enjoying your scent." She responded.

"Okay." He said looking down at her. "Just don't get too comfy, the food will be here soon." He chuckled.

She opened her eyes and tickled his arm playfully. "I'm awake enough to pick on you." She tried not to jump as he did that and her food came to the table, thanking the server as she quickly dug into her meal. In record time, she was finished and looked to Astero, wiping her face on a napkin. "Thank you." She told him, fishing out her coin purse and placing a few silver on the table to pay for the tab.

"You're welcome." he told her. "I am glad you enjoyed it…" he let out a yawn, before he continued. "Now are you ready for bed?" he asked her.

"Yeah, but we've gotta go to my parents. They're probably worried." She yawned in return.

"I honestly don't care where I sleep at this point, so long as sleep is had." He told her.

She got out of the booth and held out her hand. "Come on, you big lug. Let's get going."

He grabbed her hand and looked down at her. "I am not a lug. Big, yes. But not a lug." He joked at her, moving to the door.

"Well, with how much you're yawning, I will be lugging you around. So, I'm counting it." She smiled.

"I will make it. Besides, I don't think you could carry me there by yourself." He chuckled.

"I can certainly try." She joked, looping her arm with his. "How are we going to roll? I go in, you sneak to my window? Just stroll in all casual?"

He hummed it over. "I will wait by your window." He told her. "I think your parents might want a break from me."

She frowned. "I'm sorry. I know they understand. The timing is just…"

"Bad? Or too close to call?" He asked her.

"The timing is bad. It's been a couple of tenday I've been back in their lives, and I see you probably more than them." She surmised.

"It's okay." He told her honestly. "I would be annoyed at me too if I was in their position."

She nodded. "Yeah. It's jealousy, but they're trying to be accommodating. I am… we are adults."

"Yeah, I understand." he smiled at her. "I am jealous of your parents. They are pretty awesome."

"I'm kind of jealous that your mom was a wizard. My mom is scary in a different way, but… that world altering magicky bullshit is really fucking cool." She enthused.

"I don't think she was that powerful." he told her. "If she was, I think she would still be around."

She nodded. "Yeah… I don't think that powerful wizards will just go down without leaving a crater behind to remember them by."

He nodded, and quietly walked for a bit. "That would be my mom." He chuckled softly, reminiscing about the time he had with her.

"I'm willing to bet that, whatever happened, they either chose it or gave whoever took them a harder time than they bargained for." Magdiana looked at Astero. "I mean, if their son is anything to go by."

"Thank you." he said giving her a long kiss. "It means a lot to hear you say that." He smiled at her.

"You're welcome." She smiled, letting his kiss linger on her lips. "I would have loved to meet them as a girlfriend and not just their son's childhood… whatever."

"They would have approved." he smiled at her. "You actually remind me of her. Maybe that's why I like your mom." He chuckled.

Magdiana laughed. "My mom is… more sanguine than me. In both definitions of the word."

Astero laughed. "Yes she is." He smirked at her. "But you are still the one i like more." He smiled.

"I would hope so." She smiled back seeing her house appear in the distance. "She's, like, thirty years older than me."

"I ain't into older women." He told her. "I prefer women to be my age." He said slowing down. "Now go and talk to your parents. I will be by your window, take your time, I will be there." He said giving her a small kiss.

She kissed him back and walked to the front door, surprised that it was open. She yawned as she entered as if to punctuate her exhaustion. She saw both of her parents drinking at the dining table. She sighed, and walked in to join them. "Hey." She said quietly.

Eri looked over and smiled. "Hey yourself, Magdiana. Long time. No see."

"How's it been?" Marius asked, with a grin.

"Crazy." She responded, sitting down and looking between them. "Astero and I did a job for the adventurer's guild, and I basically passed out afterwards. Then, we both overslept and, I swear, my boss nearly melted my face off with a look this morning. I was ten minutes late."

"Well it sounds like you had a busy day. Glad to know you told us about it." He said looking at her with a small annoyed expression on his face.

Magdiana's eyebrow raised. "Told you about-? Did I forget to tell you something?"

Eri nodded. "You left shopping yesterday and didn't come back. Among other things." She sounded calm, but quickly finished her glass of whiskey after she'd spoken.

"I'm sorry." Magdiana frowned. "I'm really not used to this. The people who raised me didn't seem to care if I was missing… should've been a red flag, honestly."

Marius sighed deeply. "We know… we are just asking for a bit of communication is all." he said looking at her. "We are still getting used to having an adult daughter, let alone one with a boyfriend."

"Hells, I'm still getting used to having a boyfriend." She told them. "I'll try to be better. I promise." She sniffled, suddenly realizing that she was crying. "Sorry…"

Marius walked over and gave her a hug. "We know you will." He said rubbing her back.

She hugged him back. "I love you guys."

Eri joined their hug. "Go get some rest. We'll talk again in the morning."

"Okay." Magdiana sighed, rubbing her eyes and going to her room. She closed the door, and walked to her window, unlocking and opening it for Astero.

A minute later, Astero slowly, and quietly made it into Magdianas room. "Hey." He whispered, yawning softly.

"Hey." She said, starting to get undressed for bed with a yawn. "Sorry for the wait."

"It's fine, I wasn't waiting too long." He said taking off his shirt and pants.

She laid down in bed and opened up the covers for him. "I love you." She said before resting her head. "Oh, this is heavenly."

He laid down next to her, and pulled the covers on them. "Oh yes it is." He sighed in relief, before looking to her. "I love you." He said with a small kiss.

She kissed him back. "Goodnight, As."

"Goodnight, Mag." He said softly, closing his eyes.

In the morning when astero awoke he gently kissed magdiana, before he began to get dressed for the day. "I will see you later." He whispered softly to her.

"Yeah. Later." She told him back at the same level, watching as he climbed carefully out the window before she started to get ready for the day.

Astero closed the window, and began to make a large circle around the house. He made it a good distance before a voice called his name, from nearby. "Good morning Astero… How did you sleep?" Eri said leaning against a tree.

"Uhhhh… I slept well." he said looking pale. "How are you?" he asked her trying to be as polite as possible given the circumstances.

Eri's face went from a smile to a more straight faced one. "Okay… cut the crap. I know you snuck into the house… I have spell that tells me when people arrive." She told him honestly. "Did you really think it would be easy sneaking into, and out of our house?" she asked him seriously.

Astero sighed. "Well I did, up until about ten seconds ago." He told her honestly. "I am sorry, really I am. It's just really hard to sleep when she isn't next to me. I swear." He said with pleading eyes.

She sighed deeply. "You two really did fall hard for one another? Huh?" she said looking him over.

He chuckled a bit. "Yeah."

"Fine… just please ask beforehand. Okay? And if I catch you two doing anything at all. I swear to Corellon, you will be pissing in nine different direction when I am done with you." she said getting close to him. She stayed there for a moment, before she retreated. "So would you like to have breakfast with us?" she asked nicely.

Astero blinked a few times, before shaking his head at her. "Uhh… sadly no. I need to get to work. I open today, and the walk is much farther to there from here, than it is to my room at The Rook. so will pass." He said taking a few steps away.

It was at this precise moment that a sprinting Magdiana ran by. "Hey, Mom. Working open to close. Don't wait up!" She shouted on her way passed.

"Wait a second! I need to give you something!" she said running to catch up with her.

Magdiana slowed down a bit. "Sorry. It's a long run."

"It's okay. Just take this." Eri said sprinting up to her quickly and handing her a small stone. "Just to let us know when you will be back… and with guests." She smirked. "Bye!" She said turning, and quickly making it to the house.

Astero stood frozen for a moment before he began to walk to work. "What the fuck is her family." He said shaking his head.

Magdiana waited for Charlie for a full ten minutes after the usual opening time this day, and, during that time, several customers arrived looking to shop, but, alas, Magdiana didn't have keys. One of the customers eyed her up and down, and she realized one of her hidden blades wasn't so hidden. She pulled her sleeve down. "It's a scary place out there sometimes." She told him, eyeing him back and realizing that he also had several blades on his person.

"You ever have to use those?" He replied.

"I'm a quick study." She told him, not answering the question.

He glanced around, and sighed. "Alright. Cut the bullshit. I'm here to get poisons. Are you their maker?"

"Yes." She responded quickly. "What do you need?"

"Witchbane poison. I have a spellcaster issue." He frowned.

She sighed. Another potion she had to be careful with. "How many vials?"

"Four ought to be enough." He replied.

"I count fifteen blades on you. Are you sure it's enough?" She eyed him seriously.

"Can't afford that much of the damn stuff." He told her in surprisingly honest fashion.

She nodded. "Half up front is the store's policy."

He sighed, pulling out a coin purse. "When can I pick up?"

"This afternoon. It doesn't take long to manufacture. Just expensive materials." She responded. "Get out of here and send somebody else for the pick up. I know too much."

The man was gone before she finished speaking. After that, Charlie arrived in a whirl of grumbles and demands for coffee, which she quickly cloyed him with. At the end of the day, she left the shop exhausted, but happy to find Astero waiting for her.

"Good evening, m'lady." He smiled at her, tiping an imaginary hat in her direction.

She giggled at him. "Before we get too far into things, what's the plan? I have a sending stone and strict orders to check in."

"That makes sense…" he sighed a bit. "I am fine with either place, you mom said it is okay if I stay with you. So there is that." He told her.

She nodded. "Do you mind going there for another night? I want to help Jacob train a bit, and would really like to get help with the magicky stuff soon."

"Yeah, I can do that. Just need to get some things, clothes and what have you." He explained to her.

"That's fine. I want to see Raze anyway. Maybe, Wake has checked in." She giggled. Before she lost track of things, she told her mother their plans, putting the sending stone away in her pack again.

"I am hoping." he chuckled back. "Let's find out, shall we?" He said holding his arm out for her to take.

"We shall." She joked, taking his arm and strolling beside him. "I really need to get back into some sort of routine. My run still stands, but that's about it for now."

"Give it some time for us to settle into our jobs some more, and I will join you in a workout." he told her. "Me eating as much as i do now without any real exercise is going to make me round."

She eyed him. "Well, regardless, I like what I see, and imagining my sweaty boyfriend showing me how to swing his sword…" She shivered.

"Yes. It will be like that… only not nearly as erotic as you just imagined it." He chuckled at her.

"What?" She looked at him. "I need to learn your fighter moves. And, afterwards, we can… shower."

"Shower… right." He eyed her. "Yes you will learn the moves, but moving will be hard when you are done. And I don't mean the fun way." He told her seriously.

"Maybe the first few times, but this shit is a lifestyle, As. I'm not going to be sore forever." She promised. "Then, workouts will be fun."

"Oh yeah." He agreed with her. "We will be having a blast." He smiled at her

"And then, we'll get a house." She smirked.

Astero looked at her with a wide smile. "Yes, we will have a house all to ourselves.

"I can't wait." She told him honestly, suddenly remembering an important detail that she'd forgotten about. "Ah, shit. I'm working this weekend."

He sighed. "Well if you need to relax. You know where to find me." he smiled at her. "I do know how to give massages." He said wiggling his fingers.

She looked at his fingers. "I hope Charlie hires someone before then."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, no matter what happens. I will be waiting for you. If you are working, and i'm not. I will wait outside for you with food." He told her honestly.

Her mouth damn near watered. "Chocolate."

He thought in his head for a moment, before he smiled at her. "You are in luck… there is chocolate in my room."

"I have never loved you more than in this exact moment." She muttered nearly moaning. Then, the blush came. "Sorry."

He put an arm around her. "It's fine. Just keep your hands to yourself when I change in the room. Okay?" He asked her with a smile.

"If I decide not to, you will still enjoy yourself, but I will need the coldest of showers." She joked.

"We are not in Yutan. The water doesn't get that cold here." He joked back.

"I do miss Yutan for that. The water was almost as cold as my soul." She laughed.

He laughed at her. "Your soul is warm and bubbly." He told her. "You just like to look mean and brooding is all." He said looking her over.

"My soul wears a black leather jacket and sunglasses if I say so." She tried to deadpan, but looked too happy.

"You would wear a green sundress, and dance through the grass if you could." He smirked at her.

"As… have you ever seen me wear a dress?" She asked.

He thought it over. "Well… no. But I think you would look nice in one." He told her honestly.

She smiled at him and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Okay, that was sweet. I need a sundress."

He smiled at her. "That would be nice." He said putting an arm around her.

"For you, I could do that." She smiled, leaning into him. They quickly made it into The Rook after that, and she turned to speak to Raze. "How are you holding up?"

Raze made a face. "He is wonderful to have around in short bursts. His job is perfect for us." She paused a moment. "But that is not why you are asking, is it?"

"Has he checked in?" Magdiana asked with a straight face.

"Not yet." She responded with a suspicious look. "What did you do?"

Magdiana shrugged, walking up the stairs without another word. "Damn." She grumbled.

"Either she will laugh and think it is hilarious… or she will come at us with a knife." Astero told mag. "I'm betting on the first one."

"She's going to laugh and ask us to show her how to do it." She guessed.

"That wouldn't surprise me." He chuckled, opening his door and letting them in.

Magdiana looked at the ruined puzzle, scattered all over after first dumping coin all over it and then placing their files on top. She walked over and started to clean it up while Astero took care of other things.

Astero went to a small cupboard and pulled out a chocolate bar. He walked over to her and gave it to her. "Here you go." He smiled handing her the treat.

Magdiana beamed at him. "Masks blessings upon you!" She enthused, ripping into the packaging and savoring the melt in your mouth candy.

He smiled at her, and walked over to his dresser. "Your welcome. Now sit on the bed, and behave." He told her, taking off his shirt to change.

Magdiana eyed him, but kept fixing up what they'd done of the puzzle and eating the chocolate. "I can control myself… by the power of chocolate."

He chuckled. "Okay I will be sure to get more chocolate." He said changing into a new set of clothes, and packing another set for tomorrow.

"Thank you." She told him. "I appreciate everything you do for me. I wish that I could do more for you, As."

"Don't worry, you will." he told her. "I am just used to living by myself for so long. When we get the house, I will be asking for groceries." He chuckled.

"I was fully prepared to hear the word laundry." She shrugged.

"That too." he smiled at her. "But I will need you a lot more, when we have the house."

She waggled a finger. "So long as you understand that I don't do gutters."

"That's fine. I don't do yards." He replied.

She smirked. "We will have the most beautiful and deadliest garden around. Aconite. Monkshood. Wolfsbane. All good for remedies and… other things."

"I will not be surprised then if there are dead animals in the yard." He chuckled.

"At least we won't have a pest problem." She shrugged.

"Or we get a cat." He added.

She thought for a moment. "A cat would be nice. Maybe a tressym."

"A flying cat would be cool. But you really need to earn their trust though… they hold grudges." He told her.

"I would be fine with a bit of a warming up period, but, perhaps, just a housecat first." She shrugged.

"Thats fine with me." he smiled at her.

She stole a kiss. "Ready to go?"

"With you. Anywhere." He said grabbing her hand.

"Hey, As?" She asked, squeezing his hand as they left the room.

"Yes, Mag?" He asked her.

She looked at him as they walked down the stairs. "Do you want to smoke with me on the way there? I hurt… I don't want to wait until later."

"I don't mind, I just don't know what it is is all." he told her honestly.

"It's just popsquite. Nothing hard or addictive. It helps take the edge off when I'm in pain sometimes." She told him.

"Okay." He nodded. "I never had it. So why not." He shrugged.

She waited until they'd left The Rook before she used her tinderbox to light the end of her smoke. She took a long drag and held it in before blowing it out. She handed it to him and said, "It works better and faster if you can hold it in for a bit, but, if it's your first time smoking, you might not be able to for very long."

He took a drag, and held it for a moment before letting it out, and coughing a bit. "Okay, I was expecting worse." he said handing it back to her.

"Yeah, it's not instant." She told him taking another drag. A moment later, she spoke while blowing the smoke out, and her voice sounded deeper. "It kind of builds up to a high. I admit, I had to use this after a spar or two back in Yutan."

He chuckled. "I don't know whether to be glad, or insulted." He smiled at her. "Still, sorry."

"It's fine. I lived." She told him. "Those first few fights after you could attack, extra attack, and repeat fucking hurt."

"Don't count yourself short. After you did that whirlybird takedown. It hurt to walk for several days." He told her.

"No offense, but that's what you get for pinning me to the floor so much." She told him, offering him a smoke.

He took it and took a longer drag, holding it in longer this time. "I bet you wouldn't mind it as much now." He said letting the smoke out as he spoke. "And I wouldn't mind the acrobatics." He chuckled.

"No, I wouldn't mind now, but, back then, it pissed me off." She told him honestly.

"I'm sorry." He told her. "It was the only way to stop you at the time. You are wiggly."

"You like the wiggly." She told him taking a drag from the smoke while it was still in his hand. "Thanks."

"Sorry." he said handing it back to her. "I do. It was fun to try catch you." He told her blushing abit. "Not that I need to now."

"Thanks." She took another drag and sighed. It was getting towards the end. "I need more of this, unfortunately. As for the catching, you are more than welcome to continue to do that. Might be fun."

He smiled at her, and shook his head. "Not tonight." He told her honestly. "But I will take you up on that offer later." He said looking into her eyes.

"Obviously not tonight. I don't want you to get kicked out of the house." She told him.

"Yeah… your mom said she would make me piss in nine different ways if she caught us doing anything… I don't intend to test that." he said making a face.

Magdiana's eyebrow rose. "You'd think that there wouldn't be enough pressure to actually allow that… hmm."

"Mag. Please stop thinking about my dick in that way." He told her seriously.

"I was not imagining any particular dick in that way." She snarked back. "And, definitely not yours. We will not be doing anything besides hold hands, kiss, and cuddle in that house. You need to be in one piece for this weekend."

"You make it sound like this weekend will be the best weekend of my life." He smirked back at her.

She thought about it. "I mean, I'm not making promises, but I would like to spar and shower."

"We can do that." He smiled, seeing the house come into view. "But we can talk about that later."

"Yes, we can." She promised, watching as her father worked in the front yard with Jacob. "He's getting better."

Marius looked up to see Mag and smiled. "Yeah he is getting there, slowly but surely." HE smiled at Jacob.

"I'm better" Jacob smiled.

"Is the second dagger sticking yet?" She asked curiously.

"Not yet. But close." Marius told her.

She gave Jacob a high five. "Keep up the good work, buddy. I'll come out and join after I drop my things off."

"Sweet!" Jacob said enthused.

"And if you guys don't mind. I will as well." Astero said to them.

"Not at all." Marius told him, the more the merrier.

Magdiana walked inside slowly, and unloaded her pack in her room. She didn't bother changing clothes. Instead, she wound up passing by the kitchen and finding her mother. "Is there any chance for cleric pointers later?" She asked quietly.

Eri looked at Magdiana for a long moment. "Are you okay?"

Magdiana nodded. "Yeah. About as fine as I can be at the moment." She saw Astero start to walk outside to train. "I need to go help Jacob."

"What's going on, Mag?" Eri asked.

"I'm on my period. Nothing's wrong." Magdiana responded quickly.

"Sorry, dear. Do you need anything?" She asked.

Magdiana shook her head. "I don't know. Took some stuff for pain. Feeling okay for now. Just sluggish."

Eri gave her a hug. "Go get some exercise. You'll feel better."

Magdiana nodded, and stepped outside to join the boys. She looked around. "What are we doing?"

Astero looked to magdiana. "Well I am currently watching your brother do pretty well at throwing. But, I am about to go for a run around the house." He told her.

"I do need a quick warm up." She smiled, stretching a bit. "Let's go."

"Okay, let's go." He said starting with a small jog, and taking off.

She ran next to him, keeping his pace. This wasn't a race. "We can't keep meeting like this." She flirted.

"It's not so bad." He smiled back at her. "The view is nice." He flirted back.

She took a deep breath. "And the flowers smell amazing."

"I do like the smell of roses." He sighed, breathing in the air.

"Those are some of my favorite flowers." She told him.

"I will make sure to get you some then." He told her.

She smiled. "I'm not picky on color."

"I will get a rainbow then. One of every color." He chuckled.

"Well, don't hurt yourself. Rainbows have green. Roses aren't." She laughed.

"I think I could find a florist who could make them." he told her honestly. "Magic can do a lot."

She shook her head at him. "Alright, then. I request one dozen green roses."

"Okay. I promise i will get you them, someday… once I find a place that makes them." He laughed.

"You're silly, but I love you anyway." She told him.

"And I love you." He told her.

She eyed him. "It's no 10k, but this is nice."

"Yeah. A nice jog with you it just lovely." He said happily.

"It'll be nice to actually workout together and not against each other. We really do need to work on that." She sighed.

"Well, when we get back to the house we can do more of that. Honestly you sitting on my back while I do push ups sounds great." He told her honestly.

She laughed a bit. "I will help, but will you spot me while I do handstand pushups? It's been awhile, and I might fall."

"I will." He smiled at her. "All you ever have to do is ask." He told her.

"Thank you." She was starting to pant. "I'm sorry, can we head back? I'm not up to snuff today."

"Yeah we can." he nodded, being a little out of breath himself. "That sounds nice."

She turned to look at him. "We're already out of shape."

"It's only been a tenday." He sighed. "Fuck."

"This is why we trained like we did." She told him matter of factly. "We've got to get back on a schedule."

"Yeah. we are definitely going to. This is silly." He replied. "I know we are still in better shape than most people, but still, this is just sad." He said slowing down a bit.

She nodded. "We've gone domestic, As." She dramatically made a face before coughing several times. "Okay, yeah, I deserved that."

He chuckled a bit. "That was funny." He said, as he nearly tripped, but caught himself.

"Okay, I'm convinced, Mask is laughing at us." She giggled.

"Where did you say you got that dagger?" He asked her.

"There's a clearing back behind the house." She told him pointing. "Not too far off that way."

"Huh." He said curiously. "Maybe he lives around here." He chuckled a bit.

Magdiana shrugged. "I keep running into rogues, so I don't doubt that. The one from this morning was dumber than a box of rocks."

"How so?" He asked her, not really knowing much about rogues.

"Overtly speaking instead of using thieves cant. Made an exchange in the middle of the street, and he came to pick up his order this afternoon personally." She listed just a few things that the man had done wrong.

"Well, it sounds like he won't be around for long then." He shrugged. "At least it will look better for you."

She nodded. "Yeah, he did place a big order. Got a nice commission off of it."

"Nice." He smiled at her. "By the sounds of it, you are going to be able to pay for the house in full sooner rather than later."

"What did I say about our money?" She asked him.

He looked at her. "You still earned the money, you can do with it as you want." He told her.

She looked at him in kind. "It's going towards our house. Not my house."

"I figured as much." he told her. "I just wish I could bring in more." He sighed a bit as he said that. "I don't want you doing all of the work."

"I'm not doing all the work. We earned five hundred gold together." She reminded him.

"I know. I just want the house sooner rather than later." He told her honestly. "I'm starting to get stir crazy in The Rook."

She smiled at him, playing with his hair. "Well, I can assure you that it will be soon. If my math is correct, we should be in the nine hundreds now."

He looked at her with a smile. "Thank the gods." He said giving her a kiss. "I can't wait." he smiled.

"If someone were to ask for a supreme or superior healing potion, the commission from either of those will put it over." She surmised. "Or any very intricate poison."

"Or if anyone orders any cakes or speciality meals." He added.

"Do you cater?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, and no. We do make food in large amounts for people, but we don't deliver it. We could probably make more if we did, but that isn't up to me." He explained to her.

She nodded. "You definitely could. Would probably require more staff, though."

"Yeah, we would need to roughly triple the amount of people we have. That way we could have multiple deliveries at once." He said thinking it over in his head.

"Mag! Astero!" Marius yelled from the yard. "Stop daydreaming and come join us."

Astero sighed a bit. "We're coming!" He yelled back, looking to mag.

"Not the fun way." Magdiana added only for Astero's ears.

Astero smiled. "Soon." He told her.

Magdiana watched a few throws of Jacob's blades before stepping in. "Can you walk me through what you're doing?"

Jacob nodded, showing her and telling her step by step what he was doing until she asked him to clarify some steps. She made corrections as needed, and told him to throw again. Both of his daggers stuck, and there was rather raucous celebration from the boy. "I did it!" He enthused.

"Yes, you did!" She celebrated with him, watching her father's reactions out of the corner of her eye. He looked proud. Eventually, she pushed Jacob to Astero. "Let's learn fighter stuff."

Astero was suddenly surrounded by two new students, and was a bit taken aback. "Okay. well… if you are going to be able to attack really fast you need to practice getting up to that speed." He explained.

Magdiana was listening intently, watching Astero. Jacob on the other hand was busy watching her. She kept having to redirect him to pay attention to the lesson, and, by the end of it, was rubbing her temples a bit with a small smile on her lips. "Alright, let's do something practical." She finally said.

Astero looked at her and saw her reaction to jacob. "Okay. we just need something to punch." he smiled looking to maruis. "Got punching bag?" He asked him seriously.

Marius looked at Astero curiously. "We do have one. Give me a minute." He said going off, and coming back a few moments later. "Okay, here you go." he said stepping back.

Astero nodded, and gave the bag a simple punch. "Okay. So most people can only punch that fast." He told Mag and Jacob. "You are going to need to practice before you can get to this." He said quickly punching the bag four times, in rapid succession. "Like that." He said nonchalantly.

"Woah!" Jacob gasped, running up. "Me first!"

"Give it your best shot buddy." Astero smiled, looking at jacob before looking to Mag.

Magdiana looked at Astero and chuckled, looking down at Jacob. She made a face to sort of tell him that she was trying to be patient despite the boy's excitement for weapons, fighting, and hitting. She gave Jacob a high five when he finished punching the bag.

"Alright Jacob. Good job." He smiled at him, giving him a hive five as well. "Alright mag. Let's see what you can do." He smiled at her.

Magdiana walked up and made a face. "Speed, I can do. Power is more of a problem." She started to work the bag, and she really was fast. The bag wasn't moving much, though.

Astero stopped her, walking around behind her and grabbing her hands. He helped by showing her how to make a proper fist, and, then, by moving her arms making her whole body lean into the punch. "You have follow through with daggers, but, with fists, that's how you get power." He explained.

"Thank you." She tried out the new form, and smiled when she stopped. "That feels better."

"You're welcome. I'm glad." He smiled. "Ready for some strength training?"

She laughed a bit. "You really just want to do those pushups."

He picked her up and put her on his back. "Yes, I do." He said before starting to do a set of pushups.

Magdiana got comfortable, sitting cross legged on his back. Around pushup number fifty, she asked him. "You okay?"

"Just fifty more." He panted, still working hard.

"Alright." She said, raising her hands a bit. "You don't have to go so hard, you know. We're both kinda out of shape right now."

He grunted and kept going until he reached one hundred, rolling over and taking her down onto the ground with him. She laughed at his tired expression. "What did I just say?"

"Don't rub it in, Mag." He sighed, panting next to her.

"It's my turn." She told him, standing up. "Still up for being my spotter, or are you too tired?" She eyed her father out of the corner of her eye. "I can ask Dad."

Astero stood up in record time. "I've got this." Said, looking to Jacob. "You'll be up next. Okay?"

Jacob nodded, watching Magdiana get into a handstand position and start to raise and lower herself with nothing but her arms for support. "Woah." He gaped.

"You have to learn how to do a handstand consistently, first, bud." She grumbled. "What number am I on?"

"Forty-five." Astero told her, looking at the place where her shirt was riding up, revealing two of her hidden daggers.

Marius took this moment to step in. "I'll spot her. You help Jacob."

Astero looked away from Mag, shaking his head and turning to Jacob. "Uh, yeah. Have you ever done a pushup before, buddy?"

"Yeah. A couple for gym class." Jacob answered. "How many?"

Astero thought for a minute. "Try for twenty, but stop if it hurts."

Jacob nodded and started doing pushups. He finished with twenty around the same time Magdiana finished her one hundredth. She stood up, and panted red in the face. "Thanks for spotting me." She told her Dad, pulling down her shirt self-consciously. "Sorry."

Marius sighed. "It's fine, Mag. Just be careful." He told her quietly, pulling her to the side, and starting to walk around the house with her. "Has anybody ever taught you the spell?"

"Dad…" Magdiana groaned, making a face. When she looked at him, she sighed. "No. I didn't have magic when I was given the talk."

Marius nodded and showed her the somatic component. "There's nothing else besides just letting the magic work. Remember to use it every time unless you are ready for a happy accident."

Magdiana turned red. "Please, stop." She asked, looking away. "I know how it all works. I'm twenty, not twelve."

He pulled her in for a hug. "I know, but you're still my little girl, and it's my job to protect you."

"Thank you." She said. "Really unnecessary, but thanks."

"Please just… not in my house." He told her quietly. "I'm trusting you both with this."

"Dad. Calm down. Not happening." She assured him. "It's way too creepy to want to even imagine that in the room you used as my nursery."

"Oh, thank Mask." He sighed as they made it around the house.

Eri arrived outside now, and called out to the four of them. "Dinner's ready!"

Jacob needed no other prompting, and ran inside to wash his hands. Magdiana, Marius, and Astero, however, were much slower. Astero was stretching his arms. "You're going to be sore tomorrow." Magdiana told him, stretching her arms. "Hells, I'll be sore tomorrow."

Marius laughed at the pair of them. "You two really think that skipping out on training for a couple of days will make you lose your edge so fast?"

"Yes." They both said simultaneously, smiling at each other as they said it.

Marius raised his hands in frustration. "Alright. You two have officially spent too much time together."

"Dad, we've known each other for most of our lives. It was bound to happen sometime." Magdiana laughed, patting the man on the shoulder before walking past him and into the house.

Astero was left outside with Eri and Marius. Both of them looked at him, and he gulped. "So...I am guessing you want to have a chat with me?" He asked them nervously.

Eri looked to Marius. She'd said her piece earlier. He looked like he was still processing, so she simply nodded. "Magdiana told her father that you were trying to save up to buy a house." She started, but didn't actually ask the question that she was leading up to.

"Uh, yeah." He said honestly. "We haven't had a chance to really go looking, but we have a good bit saved up."

Marius looked at Eri before he finally sighed, ready to speak. "When were you planning on telling us?" He asked him, looking a bit annoyed.

Astero sighed a bit. "I thought magdiana was going to talk to the both of you, you are her parents after all." He told them honestly. "It seemed like a conversation you guys should have."

"She did tell me… But we wanted to hear it from you." he told him. "We only just got magdiana back, and now it's like you are taking her away." he said with a frown.

Astero looked at Marius intently. "I never intended to take her away." He started. "I know what it is like to not have parents around, and I wouldn't want to make you guys go through the feeling you have already been through again." He said looking at the two of them. "We never intended to go far, it would still be here in town. Mag was the one who wanted it to be close to the both of you."

Eri pursed her lips together. She sighed and nodded once before stepping forward and handing Astero something in a small box. "For when you're ready to use it." She told him, walking inside.

He held onto the box and looked at Marius. "Do I want to know what this Is?" he asked him nervously.

"It was her mother's." Marius explained. "She wanted you to have it."

He looked down at the box and then knew what it was. "Oh… ok. I see. Thank you." He told him honestly.

"You're welcome." Marius replied, looking into Astero's eyes. "Do try to share her with us, please."

"I was never trying to keep her all to myself." He replied back. "I will make sure that she comes to see you more often. I know she had a big crush on me for a long time. So that probably isn't helping, and I am sorry." He told him seriously.

Marius quickly pulled Astero in for a man-hug that was quickly over, and guided him inside. "Just take care of her." He said quietly.

"I promise you I will." he said seriously. "I want her to stay safe. And I know she will do the same for me." He smiled at Marius, carefully putting the box in his bag.

The pair walked into the dining room, and Marius moved to sit next to Eri. "Thank you for cooking, dear." He gave her a quick kiss before taking a helping for himself and digging in with enthusiasm.

Astero looked at the food and nodded. "Yes it looks delicious." He smiled getting a helping, and taking a bite. "And it tastes even better!" He chuckled.

Magdiana was far too busy eating to actually use her words, and, across the table, Jacob was doing the same like it was a race. Eventually, when she finished, Magdiana looked to her mother, muttering a quick, "Thank you."

Jacob did the same. "Thank you." He said gulping down his food, before continuing to eat.

Magdiana quickly started to yawn after finishing her meal. "One day, I will get used to this schedule." She complained.

Astero nodded at her. "Yeah, this was a long day." he added with a yawn.

Marius looked to the two of them and smiled. "You two are young, and in better shape than i am. You will be fine." He chuckled, taking a bite of his food.

Eri laughed at Magdiana's exhaustion. "So, magic lessons tomorrow?"

Magdiana instantly facepalmed. "No!" She nearly shouted. "I'm awake. Let's do this."

"How about just one pointer?" Eri smirked, seeing how tired her daughter was.

"Yeah, that works." Magdiana nodded once.

"When you're going about your day tomorrow, try to sense the different magic around town. See if you notice anything." Eri suggested, nodding before taking another bite of food and smiling.

"Okay." Magdiana answered, tilting her head and thinking about it. "I'll… see what comes up."

Astero looked to Eri and Magdiana. "I am glad that i studied magic versus this way… this seems way harder to learn." He told them.

"Tell me about it." Magdiana groaned. "Try living it. It's like puberty, except… boom. Magic, and you have no idea how to use it."

"Yeah… I don't want double puberty… once was enough." Astero chuckled.

"Honestly, I'm glad that it didn't happen at the same time. Probably would've blown something up at this point." She laughed, eyeing Jacob carefully.

Jacob looked between them all curiously. "What are you guys talking about?" he asked them.

Astero looked to him. "Something that you will go through when you are older, for now, just enjoy what you got." He told him honestly.

Marius rubbed his temples and sighed quietly. "Dreading the day."

Astero chuckled a bit. "Don't worry, you guys will be fine." he told them. "I doubt it will be worse than when mag went through it." He chuckled at her.

Magdiana eyed Astero, and then nodded. "Yeah, I was pretty bad sometimes."

"Yeah, she almost killed me a few times, but those weren't all exactly her fault either." He told them.

"I'm sorry." She said sadly, looking down into her lap.

Eri looked over suddenly very interested, but not willing to ask the question that she wanted to. She looked to Marius.

"What exactly do you mean it wasn't her fault?" Marius asked Astero.

"Well, we went over our files yesterday. And found out that the elders were making us fight one another… actively trying to push us apart." Astero sighed, looking to Magdiana

"They would… purposely instigate fights between us, in hindsight. And, they would have us train, using new abilities on the other." Magdiana frowned.

Eri gasped, covering her mouth and looking to Jacob who, thankfully was smart enough to know when to leave the room without being asked at the moment. He picked up his plate and walked to his room. Marius smiled at his son. "Kid's too smart for his own good."

"Yeah, he is. I will make sure I make him something good someday soon." Astero chuckled a bit before looking to eri. "Yeah. Yutan was not great for the both of us." He told her.

"It kind of got weird in the end, too." Magdiana added. "Do you remember the insurgence of ships, but no actual recognizable cargo?"

"Yeah, there were tons of cargo, but no one knew what is was for. Not even the harbormaster." Astero replied.

Magdiana made a face. "Never did understand what that was, and the town just seemed… like it was forced to be happy around that same time."

"Yeah… you don't think it was connected… do you?" he asked, almost knowing the answer.

"Just make me a tinfoil hat already." Magdiana responded in lieu of a straight answer.

Astero sighed. "I am glad to be out of there." He said leaning back. "Less crap to worry about."

She nodded. "Now, it's almost semi-normal."

"Semi-normal?" Eri said. "Dare I ask?"

Astero looked to her and shook his head abit. "It's highly complicated." he told her honestly.

Magdiana nodded. "It's well in hand for the time being."

"Yeah, we have it mostly under control. It will just take a bit of time for us to wrap our head fully around it is all." Astero told them.

Eri nodded. "Okay, but please come to us if you need help. Don't just decide to hide out in The Rook or something."

"We will." Astero told them. "The Rook is nice, but it can be stifling there."

Magdiana yawned. "I'm sorry, but I've got to sleep. I've got another marathon day tomorrow. Open to close."

Marius frowned. "Charles works you too hard."

"Charles's other helper quit over the weekend." Magdiana deadpanned. "It's temporary."

Astero sighed a bit. "I am glad that she is gone, she was rude." He told her. "Not glad you have to deal with it though."

"Yeah, apparently, there was a big fuss." Magdiana explained. "Charlie was kind of vague. I didn't push. There are ads out, so, with any luck, I'll still have the weekend off, but I won't know until he actually has them start."

Marius looked at the two of them. "With any luck you will. Now go get some sleep… you two look exhausted." He smiled.

Astero smiled and walked over to Mag. "yeah, come on. Let's get you to sleep." he told her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and jumped into his arms. "Thank you. Too tired."

He looked to her parents, and then to magdiana. "Okay come on." He smiled at her before turning back to her parents. "Night." He told them.

"Night." Marius smiled at them.

"Night." Magdiana yawned, leaning into Astero's chest.

"Night!" Eri called out, looking to Marius a little helplessly as the young couple walked away.

Marius looked to his wife. "It's okay. They will be fine. You will be fine" He said rubbing her hand.

"We missed everything besides this." She told him quietly. "We missed her first steps, talking, first days of school, puberty. I'm glad that we get to see her fall in love, but…"

"I know… we missed so much." he sighed. "But, now we get to be there for everything else. Love, marriage, maybe even kids one day." He smiled at her. "We are still going to be there Eri."

"I am not old enough to be a grandmother." Eri fanned herself.

"They are too young to have them. I am hoping they wait a while." He told her honestly.

Eri looked a little murderous. "Can I smite him if they don't wait?"

"I'll smite him if they don't wait." he told her, with a small smile. "You can have what's left."

"You're no fun." Eri waved at him, standing up. "I'll go rescue Jacob from his room so he can have dessert."

"Thank you." He smiled at her. "And you know I am a blast." He smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "You are incorrigible is what you are."

"And you love it." He smiled.

"Unfortunately." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Astero walked Magdiana in to her room and set her down on the bed. He leaned down and gave her a smile kiss. "You close your eyes, and get some sleep. I will make sure you get comfy." He whispered to her, carefully removing her clothes as he did so.

She yawned, making quiet noises with each touch, but not acting on the impulses. She was just too tired. "Thanks." She mumbled. "Love you."

"I love you, too." He smiled at her removing the last piece of clothing, leaving her in just her undies. He got undressed himself, and crawled into bed next to her. "Sleep well." He yawned, pulling her close to him.

"Night." She yawned, almost instantly beginning to snore in his arms.

In the pre-dawn hours the next morning, Magdiana awoke. Her eyes opening and finding herself in Astero's arms. She smiled, climbing out of the bed to use the bathroom before returning. When she got back into the bed, she realized that Astero's eyes were open. "Sorry I woke you." She told him.

"Your fine." He yawned slightly. "I was waking up when you came out of the bathroom." He told her honestly.

"I guess that we should get dressed, then." She sighed, sitting cross legged next to him.

"Yeah." he sighed sitting up, and stealing a small kiss from her. "You have a long day ahead of you… so do I." He said, his shoulders slumping a bit.

She nodded. "At least, I won't have to fucking sprint to work today to make it on time."

He smiled. 'Yeah, that sucked." He told her.

She started to attach all of her weapons to her person. "What's the plan for tonight? I can just tell mom in person."

Astero shrugged. "I don't know, then again I am just playing it by ear until the weekend." He told her, getting out of the bed and changing into his clothes.

"I want you to nibble on my ears." She muttered more to herself than anything.

"Wait, what?" He said looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh?" She responded in as innocent a fashion as she could muster.

He sighed, and walked up to her, he leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Something about nibbling your ears." he said huskily.

She shivered in his arms, balling up her fists and closing her eyes. "Self control. I can wait." She murmured.

He smirked at her reaction, and stepped away. "Just until the weekend." He smiled at her. "Then you can go wild."

"We really need that house." She whined.

"We will soon enough, but now I need to know what is the plan for tonight?" He asked her seriously.

She sighed. "I will have dinner with you and come home, I guess. I don't want to push our luck with the spending nights together."

"Okay." He nodded with a sigh. "That makes sense."

"I will be with you for the weekend, though." She pulled him close, giving him a soft kiss.

"I certainly hope so." He said kissing her back. "I have plans with you mind mind."

She rubbed his back with her hands. "I want you to whisper those plans into my ear while you nibble them."

He leaned down and gave a small nibble before whispering in her ear. "Vibrating massage." He teased, pulling away from her.

"Mmm, gods. I love you." She hummed. "And, I hate my body. This sucks."

"Just a little longer." he told her. "I love you, too. Which is why I am going to tease you all week when I can." He smirked, walking to the door.

"You are evil." She whined from behind him as she grabbed her bag.

"I know." He smiled back, waiting for her to walk with him.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it a little harder than she meant to. "Sorry." She mumbled as they moved around the corner and saw Marius and Eri at the table. "Hey, I'm going to eat dinner with Astero tonight. Then, I'll be home."

Eri nodded and waved, looking like the cup of coffee she was nursing was a lifeline to a boat in the middle of the ocean.

"Okay just don't be back too late. Okay?" Marius asked her, looking to Astero.

"I will make sure she is home before it gets dark." Astero told him.

"I wanted to work with Mom on the magicky stuff later anyway." Magdiana replied. "Have a good day."

Out on the sea going farther from his wife, Wake got up out of his chair and began to go about his morning ritual. He was glad he didn't have to sleep, there was so much more time in the day for reading, working, and other things. He looked out of the window of his cabin and saw the sun beginning to rise. He closed his book, and set it down on his desk next to the other ones he was reading. He quickly took off his clothes, before he walked over to his dresser, and opened his boxer drawer. A second later Wake was unable to see, and a moment after that he felt a swift whack to his nether region.

He laid on the floor for several minutes, before he wiped the powder from his eyes, and looked to his dresser concerned. He stood up and slowly opened one of the drawers, causing another one to open in synch with it. "You have got to be kidding me." he said to himself, He opened up another drawer and the same thing happened again. He was starting to get mad.

Wake spent the next few minutes, arduously undoing what was done to his dresser, before he was able to finally get dressed. He marched out of his cabin, and yelled out to the crew. "Okay! Who was the one who went into my cabin, and fucked with my dresser?" he demanded.

The crew all looked at each other confused, and shook their heads. The first mate walked up to the captain. "Sir… no one has been near your cabin since we left port. Everyone knows not to go in there unless you ask them to." he told him.

"Then why did i just get hit in the dick, not ten minutes ago?" Wake asked him seriously.

"What?" The man replied. "How did that happen?"

"Someone. Fucked. With. My. Dresser." He said slowly. "Not that hard to figure out."

The first mate looked at the captain and then back to the crew. "It wasn't any of us sir. It must have been done before we left. Everyone was already accounted for before we left." He explained.

Wake looked at his first mate, and then to his cabin. "Who the hell would do that?" He asked out loud, not having a clue.

Magdiana slowly left her work building, looking up to the sky. It was still relatively bright out, which was nice. Summer was growing nearer, and the heat was getting to the point of being unbearable for her, and probably Astero as well. Astero was waiting for her outside of the door, and she took his hand, squeezing it lightly. "Hey." She smiled at him. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." He smiled back as they started to make their way towards The Rook. On their way, they chatted a bit about their days, but the real excitement arrived when they arrived to a street they normally crossed and it was abuzz with military presence due to some sort of cart crash. The pair looked at each other and silently agreed to a detour down a somewhat familiar road. A short while down the street, they saw the building that they had recently done their adventuring job inside.

Magdiana looked at it with distaste before doing a double take. "Hey, As?" She asked him quietly, eyeing the building a little suspiciously.

"Yeah?" He asked her, looking at what she was starting at.

"Is that a for sale sign?" She asked, morbid curiosity filling her.

"I think it is…" he trailed off getting closer to see the sign. "You have got to be shitting me." He said, seeing that the price of the house, was well within their price range for a house.

She sighed audibly. "I wonder if it's cleaned up or if he just left it… well, a mess."

"I am not sure… but if the turnaround was this fast to get it to be sold. It wouldn't surprise me if it was completely cleaned out." He said in disbelief.

"Should we look?" She asked him.

He sighed a bit. "Yeah, I want to know just fast my brother can pull something like this off." He told her.

She started walking over to the building, and pulled out her tools, quickly unlocking the door. "The lock got changed. Much easier pick." She commented.

"Figures." He sighed, keeping a lookout for her. "And I bet the interior will be different too.

She opened the door and found that no furniture was inside. The carpeting and even a bit of the architecture had been changed. "He's good." She commented. "I wonder if the secret door still works."

Astero looked around the area and nodded. "Yeah he is good." he said walking to the chimney, before speaking the word to open it. A second later the door opened. "Well that is a nice plus." He told her.

She walked up the stairs and found that the bedroom was completely redone. "Okay, I have to see the hidden rooms now."

Astero walked into the chimney, and down the hall which had also been redone. The doors that got destroyed were reset, and even the blood spatter had been removed. Astero stopped and leaned against the wall for a moment. "What the fuck is my brother." He said out loud, pondering the endeavor it would take to do this in such a short time.

She opened each of the doors, and they all unlocked easily. Behind the last one, she found a desk with a note. "Son of a bitch thought of everything."

Astero looked at her. "You have got to be joking. This is a joke right?" He asked her seriously.

She reached down, and grabbed the letter, handing it to him. "He obviously knew we could get back here… and would come back here."

He looked down at the note, he didn't want to read it, but gods damn it all he was curious. He opened the letter so that she could read as well.

"Dear Magdiana,

I've written two notes to my brother now, and you have burned both of them. That's quite rude, you know, but I digress. Always better safe than sorry when it comes to detection spells, I suppose.

I am afraid that business takes me away from Astero again, but I can see that he is in good hands with you. Take care of him.

Your Brother,

Rivin."

Magdiana sighed. "What is it with our families thinking we're getting married so soon?"

Astero sighed. "I don't know. But this is getting silly." He said looking around. "I can't tell if this house was a gift, or a really weird way of saying I'm sorry… I'm confused." He said making a face.

"Is it, like, betraying Wake and the rest if we take it? Since we know who it's from?" She asked him seriously.

He looked at her, and then to the house. He sighed. "I mean yes. But at the same time, the place is nearly perfect." He told her.

"Nearly perfect?" She asked. "It has the big kitchen you wanted. The parts of the yard that I've seen are enormous… What am I missing?"

He looked around him, and then to her. "What would we do with the secret underground extension?" He asked her seriously. "Besides hiding bodies." He said sarcastically.

"Well, this room is a good sized area for an alchemists and poisoners workstation." She told him simply, grabbing his hand and pulling him over to the other room that shared a wall with this one. "And, they literally left the weapon racks on these walls… I mean… sex dungeon." She laughed.

He laughed at her. "We don't need a sex dungeon." he told her. "Pretty sure you could get out of anything that I throw at you anyway." He chuckled.

"Probably." She responded easily. "And, also, the secret area is a good place to hide valuables from potential roguish intruders."

He nodded, and looked to her. "The only downside to that is, Rivin knows this place too. There is nothing stopping him from coming by for a visit, or leaving another note in gods only know where." He explained to her.

She nodded. "I'm not saying that I disagree. You are right, but there is nothing stopping him at The Rook either, and, surprisingly enough, I think he wants us on his side." She gestured to the room. "He's trying to earn our favor, so… why not play both sides until he feels comfortable enough to reveal his hand a bit more?"

"You want to double cross the double crosser… I love you." He said leaning in and kissing her. "Yes, let's do it." He smiled.

"How does a couple of twenty somethings go about buying a house around here, anyway?" She asked.

"I have no fucking clue." he chuckled. "But I have a feeling, we might be able to get it even if we wait a bit." He told her.

She nodded. "I have a feeling that you're right." This made her laugh. "Let's go to The Rook and eat dinner."

"Let's, I'm hungry." He smiled, grabbing her hand.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I love you."

"I love you." He said squeezing her hand back.


	11. Middlegame

The week was a long and tiring one for both Astero and Magdiana. Each one had been working diligently at their respective jobs, so much so that they had little time to actually see one another. They did manage to steal a few seconds between lunch breaks, where Mag would run and get some food from astero, or he would bring some to her if she was working late. But other than that, they had only seen each other for two hours at most all week.

Astero's week consisted of a lot of special orders, ranging from chocolate cakes, all the way to slow roasted pulled pork. He didn't complain about all the cooking, it was nice for a change of pace every day. His biggest complaint was the little time he had spent with Magdiana, and the less sleep he was getting without her. It was noticeable towards the end of the week, where astero had accidentally fallen asleep while there was a slow time of the day.

Gordan woke him lightly, and could see the circles under his eyes. "Sweet mother Hestia, you are tired." He said shocked.

Astero grumbled a bit and waved him off. "I will be fine… the nap helped, really I just need to get a decent night's sleep is all." He sighed, knowing that it might not be soon.

Gordan shook his head at Astero. He looked at the clock for a moment, before looking back to the boy. "Will you be able to make it through the rest of the day?" He asked him seriously.

He nodded at him. "Yeah, like I said, the nap helped." He told him honestly, letting out a small yawn.

"Okay, good." Gordan smiled. "If you can make it through the rest of the day, i will give you tomorrow off. You clearly need it." he told him.

Astero raised an eyebrow at thim. "But what about the orders tomorrow?" He asked him thinking them through in his head.

"I will be fine." he smiled at astero. "There isn't much to actually do, just a lot of it is all." Gordan chuckled. "Besides, I have been doing this for a while. I will manage."

Astero smiled. "Thanks." he told him. "But you really should hire some other people. Otherwise you will work yourself to death." He half-joked.

"And that's what I intend to do." Gordan smiled back. "And I really don't want to train a new person… too much work." He chuckled.

"Figures you would say something like that." Astero chuckled back. "Okay, I will go get the rest of the stuff done, and try to leave a little early. If that is alright with you?" he asked him.

"So long as the work is done, it's fine by me." gordan smiled, going to the back to do some paperwork.

Astero went back into the kitchen, and began to get the things he needed done, done. He wanted to go get a long weekend, and to see Magdiana.

Magdiana spent every day that week working out with her brother and working on cleric stuff with her mother. She felt that she was getting back into shape, but exhaustion was taking over. She was hardly sleeping at night and found herself doing late night laps around the house out of boredom most nights in hopes of passing out. At work, it was hectic. She was taking over more duties while Charles tried to find someone that could help him around the shop when she wasn't around.

Her cleric training was… interesting. Her mother kept getting her to try to "feel out" the spells she had available to her, but she was struggling on multiple accounts. Focus being the main problem, given her exhaustion, but the second was actually spell slots. As it turns out, one had to sleep as a cleric to regain them, and she wasn't sleeping properly.

Needless to say, she was starting to get nasty between lack of sleep, frustration with training, her period, and severe Astero withdrawal. On seventh day, she practically sleepwalked to work, saying little to Charlie, and, at lunch time, looking him in the eyes with a desperate sort of stare. "Please, tell me you've hired somebody." She said quietly.

Charlie looked back at her and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mag. Hopefully, next week."

Magdiana nodded, fighting tears. "Okay. I'm going to lunch." She told him, leaving the building and heading towards the shop Astero worked at.

Astero was finishing up a few tasks when he saw Magdiana walk in the door. "Hey!" He said with a large smile, and going over to give her a hug.

She buried her face into his shirt. "Hey." She mumbled into his chest.

He gave her a small kiss on the head and looked at her. "What's wrong? You seem upset." He said looking her over.

"I still have to work this weekend." She sighed. "I'm so tired."

He frowned, he could tell she was exhausted. "Do you think you could at least spend a few days with me?" He asked her seriously. "At least get some decent sleep?"

She nodded. "Yeah, that was the point of being at my place during the week, so that I can be with you for the weekend."

"Okay, good." he said hugging her tightly for a moment. "How busy are you going to be tomorrow?" He asked her with an idea in his head.

"Just work. Can't do cleric training. I haven't been able to cast for days." She explained.

He hummed it over in his head. "Okay then, tomorrow I am going to bring you lunch." he told her. "And then when you get off, I am making you dinner."

"Am I missing something?" She asked curiously. "Don't you have work?"

"Well… I did…" He started. "But gordan gave me tomorrow off, so I am free all day. Which I am now making all for you." He explained to her.

"I love you." She sniffed, suddenly overcome with emotion.

"I love you." he smiled back at her, hugging her for a moment. "Now what do you want to eat? I do need to get back to work soon." He frowned a bit.

She nodded. "What's the special?"

"Meatball sandwiches." He told her.

"Two of those." She responded.

He gave her a small kiss. "Coming right up." He said going into the kitchen, and coming out a few minutes later with two sandwiches for her. "Here you go." He smiled handing them to her.

"Thank you." She mumbled, starting to eat quickly with the remainder of her lunch time. When she was finished, she called into the back. "Compliments to the chef!"

"Thank you!" Astero called back. "See you later!"

"Later!" She said, a bit quieter as she made her way back towards work. She was walking slowly, nearly staggering her way there, actually. She was so focused on making her way back to work that she didn't notice the man following her and how familiar he looked.

"Hey." He said, making her jump.

She eyed him, remembering him from the bag of coin and the strange adamantine one that came with it. "Hey." She responded back.

"My employer has an offer." He told her in typical vague fashion.

She pulled out a pair of gloves and put them on. "Let me see it." She offered her hand.

He placed a sealed envelope with a wax seal on it very similar to the symbols on the coin impressed in the material. She opened it, and read the contents before burning it on the spot. "I need time to think it over." She responded quickly, walking back to the shop quicker than before.

At the end of the day, Magdiana eagerly informed Astero of the details once they were in a safe place to do so. "It's probably not the most honest work, but I'd be paid well, and I wouldn't actually be doing anything besides making poisons, which I'm doing anyway. What do you think?"

Astero thought it over for several long moments, it was a bit much to take in. "You would just be making poisons. Not going around silencing people." He asked her intently.

"The offer said exclusively poisons." She responded. "I could do it from home except for the exchange of them."

"Do you trust them?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes. "I trust you, but I want to know that you trust them."

"They're rogues. Of course, I don't trust them. But, I'm also a rogue, and I'm not stupid. If I show no interest in anything besides making poisons, they're not going to fuck with the best source in town." She responded.

He sighed. "Then go for it." He told her. "But if they do anything. Let me know."

She nodded. "This leads me to the most important part… I can't manufacture poisons at my parent's house."

"So we will need to buy the house, sooner rather than later." He sighed.

"Yeah…" She sighed in return.

He thought it over in his head for a moment. "How much do we have? I have just over 400." he explained.

"Alright. So, we have the 500 from the adventure, and I have the 150 tip from these guys plus another 300 of my own wages." She counted.

"Alright so we have more than enough for the down payment. It's just buying it… I have tomorrow off, so I could go look into it. I might miss getting you lunch though." he told her.

"I can survive a day without lunch, but I'm not going to make it another week of these shifts." She responded honestly.

"Then let me have the money, and I will go buy the house." he said with a small sigh. "Your parents are going to kill me, you know that right?"

She nodded tiredly. "I'm sorry. I'll talk to them."

"Okay good. But let them know you are staying the night here." He said seeing her nearly passing out. "You are not making it home tonight."

Magdiana first unloaded her pack of the considerable coin she'd been hauling around before activating her sending stone. She yawned. "Hey, Mom?" She asked into it

"Yes, Mag?" Eri responded quickly.

"I can't keep my eyes open. I'm going to stay here tonight, but I'll be over tomorrow… I need to talk with you and Dad." She explained as quickly as possible.

"Please get some rest." Eri answered without hesitation, disconnecting the call.

Magdiana laid down on the bed. "This was a mistake."

"Laying down?" He asked, looking at her.

"I needed a shower." She explained, rolling over and closing her eyes.

He chuckled. "Get one in the morning." He said sitting down on the bed.

She reached down and started to slowly remove her boots. When she'd loosened the first one, she kicked it off the bed. "This might take awhile."

He shook his head a bit. "You just close your eyes, and i will take you clothes off for you." He smiled, removing her other boot for her.

"You have to do this far too often." She murmured, removing one of her hip daggers with fumbling fingers.

He grabbed her hand, and placed it next to her head. "I don't mind stripping a woman of her clothes." He whispered to her. "Now you just focus on sleep." He said removing her daggers, and setting them to the side before removing her holsters.

"Mmm… shark week ended today." She murmured.

Astero smiled at that. "That's good, but it doesn't help us right now." He said carefully removing her pants and tossing them to the side.

"'S'Okay… kinda can't reciprocate right now." Her eyes closed and no longer opened. "I love you."

"I love you." he said leaning in to kiss her softly. He gently took off her shirt and bra, and pulled the covers over her. He stripped down himself and laid down next to her. "Sleep well." He said with a light kiss.

She kissed back, but barely. "Night."

"Night." he said pulling her close, quickly falling asleep next to her.

He awoke several hours later feeling well rested, and much better about not having to go into work. He simply held mag close until she stirred. "Morning." he whispered to her.

"Mmm...mornin'." She sighed, stretching a bit.

"Sleep well?" He asked stretching as well, and bumping her slightly. "Sorry."

She rolled into his chest. "Oh, As… I actually slept."

"I am glad you did. It looked like you needed it." He said stroking her hair.

She wiggled her fingers and they glowed with magical light. "Oh, good, it's back."

"Nice, now you can get pointers from your mom again." He smiled at her.

"Yeah, now, I can actually try to 'bless Astero while you're sparring'. Whatever that means." She laughed.

He chuckled. "But I didn't sneeze." he joked.

"She says that it will make it easier to hit things. Not that you have much problem with that." She shrugged.

"Yeah, that is true. Also why would you bless me if we are sparring? That would mean it would be easier for me to hit you." He said to her a bit confused.

"As, who else do you fight?" She asked seriously. "She'd rather you hit me like you usually do than Jacob or Dad."

He frowned a bit. "But I don't like hitting you." He told her honestly.

"Alright, alright." She waved her hands. "I'll save it for Wake."

"That I like." He smiled, sitting up. "And you need a shower." He told her.

She sat up fast. "Shit. Do I have time?"

He looked at the clock. "Yeah you do. It's not nearly as far to your work from here as your parents house." he told her.

"The house is even closer." She responded, climbing out of bed and padding over to the bathroom. "Do you need a shower?"

"No… but I want one." He smirked, getting out of bed, and following her.

She stepped out of her underwear and flung them towards his face. "Oops."

He caught them with his teeth, and looked at her. "Well I guess you aren't getting these back then." He smiled, stepping closer to her.

She went over to the tub and got it to a friendly temperature for the both of them, hopping in fairly quickly. "I have already missed this."

He stepped in and and relaxed when the water hit him. "Yeah, thats nice." He sighed contently.

She placed her hands on his chest, rubbing them up and down. "Yeah, it is."

He looked down at her and smiled, running his hands down her back, and then up to her chest. "And I have missed this." He said kissing her softly.

She sighed into his lips. "I wish we had time for that part." She said, pulling away and washing her hair quickly.

"Don't remind me." He sighed, scrubbing himself slower, he wasn't in a rush today. "Soon though." He smiled.

"Maybe tonight." She offered. "Depends on how wordy the conversation with the parents gets."

"I am hoping." He said scrubbing her back for her. "And if all goes well, we will have a house." he smiled.

She smirked. "If we're there…" She stopped speaking, wanting to look at him properly and turning around. "I can scream your name."

"I will make you." He smirked, looking into her eyes, and his hand running between her legs. "And you will love it." He said rubbing her slightly before removing his hand.

"You are evil." She sighed. "And, I have to get out soon."

"I said I was going to tease you." He smirked, getting out of the shower.

"I am going to burst by the end of the day. This week has sucked." She whined, hopping out of the shower, grabbing a towel, and dashing into the bedroom. "It's freezing in here!" She complained.

"It's nice here." He said hiding her panties from her, and getting dressed. "Still not nearly as cold as Yutan."

"Sorry. The vents were blowing directly on me." She said, pulling on her pants without the underwear. "And, I wasn't planning on comparing it to Yutan. That blizzard won the award for coldest night of my life."

"And the first night we shared a bed." He added.

She moved over to kiss him. "Thank you for warming me up."

"Anytime." He said kissing her back. "Now, go get to work." He said slapping her butt playfully. "And make sure your parents don't kill us."

"I'll see you for dinner." She smiled a wide smile before turning back to him. "How much is a bed?"

"No clue, best guess is a few dozen gold." he told her.

She nodded, pulling out a pouch and handing it to him. "My spending cash."

"I will spend it wisely." he told her. "And i already have the rest. I will meet you near your parents house. Deal?"

She nodded, kissed him one more time, and dashed out the door. "Hi, Raze!" She called to the innkeeper on her way to work, not waiting for a response.

Astero walked down the stairs, and was met with raze face to face. She looked him dead in the eye. "What do you do to my husband?" She asked him seriously.

He smirked, and looked back to Raze. "Pranked him. Why?" He asked simply.

Raze smiled wide at Astero and gave him a hug. "That was brilliant!" She said in delight. "He was mad for three days before he figured out it was you two." she chuckled.

"Three days?" He asked her. "It took him that long? I though Wake was smarter than that?" he asked curiously.

"He is about as smart as a dog dear. That is why I keep him around for short periods." She laughed.

Astero smiled, and saved that for later. "Good to know, and if you ever want us to do anything special, don't hesitate to ask." he said walking to the door.

"Thank you dear! Will do!" She said happily.

Astero waved goodbye to Raze, and made his way into town. He needed to find the realtor who was selling the house, he just didn't know where to start. He started by asking around the docks for directions, some gave helpful bits, while others told him nonsense. After a strenuous hour of searching he eventually found the place in question, he eagerly entered the building and was greeted by an older woman. "Hello sir, how can I help you today?" she asked him curiously.

"Hello, I am her to ask about the purchase of a house." He told her honestly.

She looked at him oddly, but led him to a desk. "Well I can certainly try to help you." she smiled. "Is there a particular house you are interested in?" She asked him.

Astero nodded. "Yes ma'am. There is a particular house in the upper district I was interested in purchasing." He told her honestly.

The lady smiled at him. "That might be a little out of your price range, sir." she said looking him over again with a smug look.

Astero shook his head. "No. there was one house that I thought was perfect." He smiled a bit giving her the address.

The lady raised an eyebrow, and went to go check her files. A few moments passed, and a different person came back sitting at the desk with a smile. It was a woman, but she was much better dressed. "Alright sir, you were interested in this house here correct?" She asked pointing to the address, and verifying it was the right one.

"Uh, yes ma'am." astero said, slightly confused at the new woman, but kept going. "It looked good, and it is in a great spot."

"Yes it is!" she smiled. "Well it is still available, which is shocking given the price, and the area it is in." She smirked a bit. "I guess it is a steal."

"It definitely sounds that way." He smirked back.

"Alright then. I will just need you to sign some papers, and give us some coin, and the house will be yours!" She said standing up to go get the paperwork.

"Sweet." He smiled. "Any idea where the nearest place I can get furniture is at?" He asked her.

She turned back and laughed a bit. "Oh, don't worry about that. The house is pre furnished." She said waving him off, and going to get the papers.

Astero slumped back in his chair. The house was empty, earlier in the week. How the fuck did it get furnished? He shook his head, and pushed it to the side, he would worry about it later. The new lady came back shortly thereafter, and handed him the papers. He quickly signed them, and gave her the coin in question, which was just under 1,200 gold. The lady smiled and took the paperwork, and returned shortly handing Astero two keys.

"Here you go sir!" She smiled. "Enjoy your new house." She said shaking his hand.

"Thank you." he smiled back.

"Do have a wonder day Mr. Vosson!" She enthused.

"Thanks." Astero replied, taking the keys and leaving as quickly as possible. He went to the house quickly, and unlocked the door. When he opened it up, sure enough, the house was fully furnished. Simply furnished, but furnished nonetheless. He sighed, and went to go get shopping with the money he had, he needed to cook dinner for Mag tonight, and he was going to make sure it was in the house.

Magdiana went in to work that day, she had a spring to her step that came from having actually slept the previous night. She met Charlie around the same time he arrived, and they started their day. Luckily, it was slow, and she had a moment to actually speak to him. "Uh, Charlie… I got a job offer." She deadpanned.

The man rubbed his temples and sighed. "You're not going to be at a competing shop are you?" He asked almost fearfully.

"I won't be competing, no." She responded honestly. "I need to tell them when I can start."

Charlie sighed. "Don't let me stop you from having a better job. Tell them you can start whenever your ready."

Magdiana nodded. "Thanks, Charlie."

At lunchtime, Magdiana left the shop to find the man she'd met twice before, and noticed him milling about a nearby corner. Clearly waiting for her. She pulled out a smoke and took a drag, leaning next to him. "I can shop on second day. Have your grocery list to me by the end of the day. Let's do lunch near the docks on third day."

The man nodded once, before looking up at her. "I'll see you on third day."

By the end of the day, Magdiana had her 'grocery list' of poisons for manufacture, and Charlie's final payment to her in hand. She made her way to her parent's place, and heavily sat down at the kitchen table. "Hey, Mom." She sighed. "Is Dad here too?"

Eri nodded, and called out to her husband. "Marius! You are needed." She said looking to Mag curiously. "Is everything all right?"

Magdiana looked sadly at her mother. "Please don't be mad at me."

"Mad? Why?" She asked curiously, and nervously.

Magdiana tapped her toes on the floor until her father stumbled into the room. Then, she started to rapid fire tell her story. "I got a job offer that gives me a schedule that I can set, and possibly more money. But, I needed a place to do it, so Astero and I followed through with buying the house."

Eri's mouth hung open, just processing what she said. She waited a moment, before she actually spoke. "So you mean you are moving out… don't you?" She said frowning a bit.

"I mean, yes, but I haven't been able to sleep here without Astero. And, this way, dad can stop freaking out and thinking that we're, like, doing anything under his roof. And, I'll have the free time to actually pick Jacob up from school and train with you and him and not fall asleep immediately after work." She unloaded her worries on them.

Eri had tears in her eyes, but held mags hand. "You will visit us? Right?" She asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I mean, maybe not every day, but I want to help with Jacob's training. And, I know Astero wants too as well. We're not just going to disappear."

Eri moved and hugged her daughter. "You two better visit." She smiled slightly. "Otherwise I will break your door down, and drag you two to dinner with us." He said seriously.

"Can Astero and I make you dinner tomorrow, maybe? I'd love for you to see the place." She smiled.

"That would be wonderful. Of course we will be there!" She smiled at her daughter. "It would be nice to not have to cook for once." She added.

She smiled before jumping in to hug both of them. "I love you." She told them each.

"We love you, dear." Eri said holding her tightly, before begrudgingly letting go. "Now go tell Astero to have a proper meal ready for us tomorrow. I expect good things!" She widely smiled.

"Love you, guys." Magdiana smiled, hugging her mother back, and moving to hug her father as well. "I'll see you tomorrow for dinner." She told them before heading out of the house towards her new one. She started by walking, but, by the time she made it to the docks, she was jogging, and by the end, she realized she'd all out sprinted most of the way there. She was panting when she knocked on the door to the house, realizing only then that she didn't have a proper key, yet.

Astero went to the door and opened it. "Well, you're home early." He chuckled As he pulled her in for a big hug. "I was just about to go and meet you."

She hugged him back. "The conversation went quicker than I thought, and, then, I was super excited and basically ran here."

"I can tell." He chuckled, seeing her looking a little ragged. "Well come on in. Take a look at our house!" He said practically dragging her in the door and shutting it behind them.

She looked around. "Holy cow! How much furniture did my gold by? And, how'd it get here so quickly?"

"About that." He said handing her gold back to her. "None of it… the house came pre furnished." He sighed a bit as he said that.

"Fucking A, Rivin." She muttered.

Astero nodded. "Yeah, and I am convinced that the lady who sold it to me was helping him." He looked at Magdiana and smiled a bit. "At least we have a house now."

"Yeah." She said, looking absolutely flabbergasted. "Please, tell me dinner is soon. I need to eat and process."

"It is in the oven as we speak." He smiled at her. "Go sit down and relax, I will bring it to you when it's done."

She sat down at the table in a sort of daze. "Holy shit. We own all of this."

He sat down beside her for a moment. "Yeah… I am still wrapping my head around it too. It is weird cooking in the kitchen." He laughed.

"We could've never bought something like this with a month in Yutan." She sighed.

"It would have been easier to kill a family and take their house."he chuckled, standing up to go get the dinner finished.

"Well, you're not wrong, but we wouldn't have done that." She laughed, watching him cook with a small smile.

"Oh no. It would be a dark day before that happens." He told her.

"How's the kitchen feel? Good size?" She asked. "By the way, is there any money left? I need to probably buy some supplies for work."

"Oh yeah, it's great. Might be bigger than the one at work." He smiled back at her. "And yes, there is plenty left. I will give the rest to you after dinner."

She smiled. "Thank you. Also, you will need to teach me the infernal words for open and close. My office is going to be in the basement."

"No worries, their not that difficult to learn." He smiled at her. He walked over a few moments later with the dinner and set it in front of her. "Enjoy." He said, giving her a small kiss.

She kissed him back. "I love you, and thank you."

"I love you, and you're welcome." He smiled, sitting down and digging in.

She started to eat slowly, just processing everything that had happened that day, and finding herself leaning into Astero as she ate, almost cuddling him at the table. "This is nice."

He leaned into her, and smiled. "It is." He sighed contently. He looked around the house, looking at everything that was now theirs. He took another bite of his food, and looked back at back. "This is going to take some time to get used to." He chuckled. "I am totally going to walk to The Rook on accident one day."

"You're telling me. I was sleeping at two different places." She laughed.

"And now we will need to go and get all of our things to bring here." he laughed back. "I still have all my clothes at The Rook."

"I left a good bit at home, too. Also, can you make dinner for my family tomorrow?" She asked, realizing she'd almost forgotten and blushing profusely. "I want them to come see the new house."

He leaned in a gave her a small kiss. "Of course I can." He smiled at her reassuringly. "You can get worked up over the littlest things, you know that right?" He chuckled.

She nodded. "I know, there is just a lot going on at once, between my parents and the house being furnished, and having an actual house." She said in a rapid fire manner.

"It's fine." he told her. "I don't mind making dinner for your family. Hell's I will make sure they love it!" he laughed. "Now, just calm done, and eat your food. You must be starving."

She smiled and looked to astero, she gave him a small kiss, before taking a bite of her food. "Thank you, and I am."

"You're welcome." He replied.

The two ate in companionable silence and relaxed when the food was finished. Astero took the plates to the kitchen and quickly washed them, before returning to sit next to magdiana. He leaned against her, and held her hand in his. "This is our house now." He said looking around.

She pulled his hand up and kissed it softly. "So much more room." She smiled stretching as she did so.

"And more time together." He said reclining back on the couch. "You will be home most of the day, and I will be home in the evening." He sighed contently.

Magdiana leaned down and cuddled into him. "I'm glad we get to spend more time together. I missed you all week."

"Same." He said pulling her close. "I missed this."

She laid down on the couch and rested her head in his lap. "I approve of the couch. There's enough room to stretch."

"And I'm pretty sure there might be another one in the hidey hole." he told her. "Haven't checked there yet."

"I'm morbidly curious." She frowned.

"Well, at least it would give me the chance to teach you the words to open the door then." He sighed, but not moving.

"First, teach me how to even summon the phlegm necessary to say those words." She laughed.

"Well remember when I blew into your nose? Something like that." He laughed back

"So, hack a loogie is what I'm hearing." She made a face.

"It helps when learning, but yeah." He chuckled a bit. "Eventually you won't have to."

She laughed. "I will try. Now, how do I say it?"

Astero told her a word in Infernal. "That is open."

She tried the word. "Like that? Or did I just call your mother a bad name?"

"Close." He smiled. "You need to make the end go for a bit longer."

She tried again with the correct pronunciation. "Yeah?"

"Perfect." He told her.

"I can say a word in infernal." She smiled

"And soon you will be saying two words in infernal. Wake will be worried." He smiled at her.

"He should be. You actually speak the language." She countered.

"It is fun to know, really useful for getting people to mind their own business." He chuckled.

She nodded. "I feel the same about draconic."

"Draconic sounds like it would be fun to know. It is used in a lot of magic." he said conversationally.

"It is." She explained. "Can't tell you how many times I've gotten someone draconic in nature to do a donor take because I used their mother tongue."

"Yeah that sound like something you would do." He smiled at her.

"Even better if you mix it with Thieves cant." She giggled.

"You should teach me that one day." He said looking her over. "That could be useful to know."

She nodded emphatically. "It's been exceedingly useful here. Especially with the new employer."

"You are going to get stir crazy around here. You know that right?" he chuckled.

"I am going to work on the yard when I get bored, and I'll get to train more. Do fighter and cleric stuff." She wiggled her fingers, making them glow. "Shit. I never practiced today."

"You have off tomorrow right? You can practice after dinner with your parents." He explained.

She frowned. "At least, let me try the magic detection. Maybe, we'll find something neat."

"I'm not stopping you." He told her. "You will have a better time than I will, I am combat oriented."

She concentrated for a minute before she finally said, "Well, it's working. The password door is magical."

"Good, I was worried it was mechanical in nature." He joked.

She started to walk around the house. "Doesn't seem to be anything else around up here, but, maybe, downstairs."

Astero stood up and stretched a bit before walking over to her. "Well, let's go check it out."

She walked over to the chimney, and tested the word for open. When she said it, the magic started to work. "Yes!" She celebrated.

"Good job." He said giving her a light kiss.

She started to walk down the hall, still sensing the magic. "Nothing yet. You don't think?"

He walked down the hall with her, and looked in the few rooms that were attached. "Well, unless the furniture down here is magical, I think the door is the only thing."

"Yeah, I think you're right." She smiled. "Thank Mask. I don't know if I could've taken another surprise."

He nodded. "Yeah, if we could have a few less surprises in our lives, that would be great."

"I need a week free from surprises." She groaned.

"Yeah, a surprise free vacation as it were." He said sighing.

Magdiana dropped concentration on the spell, and fell down onto the couch dramatically. Then, she looked up at Astero with lustful eyes. "How would you like to break in the house?"

He looked at her with a smirk, and walked up to the door in the chimney. He said the word for close, and the door shut behind him keeping them down stairs. "Why don't we start down here, and work our way to the top?" He said leaning over her and kissing her.

"I am so ready." She sighed, leaning into his kiss, and grabbing at his shirt.

He smiled and kissed her passionately, slowly removing her daggers from her person and tossing them to the side. "We won't be needing these." He huskily said to her.

She tore her lips away. "Unless you want them, which I doubt."

"I already have one." He said beginning to unbutton her shirt from the bottom up. "And I don't need it for this." He whispered into her ear, nibbling it slightly.

"Yeees," She sighed, unbuttoning his pants and snaking her hands into the front of them. "I've wanted this all day… all week."

He kissed down her neck. "And I wanted you all week."

The two broke in all of the important surfaces in the house, taking a shower together and getting ready for bed. "Hope you are feeling better." He smiled.

"Much." She nodded. "Now, what to do with the rest of the night?"

"Lay down and relax?" He asked. "More tired now than anything." He said with a small yawn.

She gave him his towel and smiled. "Cuddling it is."

He dried himself off quickly, and put an arm around her. "Physically, I am tired. Mentally, I am wide awake." He smiled at her, pulling her close to him.

"Okay." She nodded. "So, tell me, mentally wide awake. Now, that we have the house… what next?"

"Well. we still have jobs to deal with, but there is still my brother to worry about and what we are going to do about whatever is going on with The King." He told her.

"I'm still not… 100% clear what is up with the guy, but I can make some educated guesses." She made a face at him, hanging her towel back up to dry. "I'm still trying to connect a lot of dots, though. It all seems connected, but how? Why?"

"We are a part of this, that much is clear. But what that part is… could be anything. Rivin needs us, The king is looking out for us, and the elders trained us to be weapons." He told her. "It had to be for something."

"I feel like the elders were either… supposed to be doing something else for the king, or were helping Rivin, or something. I don't think that they're huge players in this. In fact, they're probably dead right now." She surmised. "Wake said they'd been handled."

"So we just need to figure out what Rivin is up to, or maybe stop him." He replied, moving to sit on the bed.

She laid on the bed next to him. "I think he's probably too guarded to get information out of him at this point. We've kind of just gotta… fall into his plans for a bit. Then, we can hopefully get close enough to stop him. I just keep thinking about him as me. What if I'd been on my own like him with one goal for nearly two decades."

"You would be just as terrifying." He told her honestly. "And with your magic now, you might be even better. Granted I don't know if he can cast…" Astero trailed off for a moment before looking to Mag. "You only started cast just before we left yutan… right?" He asked.

"It was the first time I'd cast, but… I could do some stuff that my Mom could do before that without realizing it. I only noticed recently what it was." She explained. "I shouldn't be able to throw as quickly as I can, except that I am a special type of cleric."

"Yeah I know all that, but what if they were training you to not be a rogue, but a replacement… For Rivin." He explained to her, looking at her seriously.

She looked at him skeptically. "That's… not possible… is it?" Her mind reeled, trying to put two and two together.

"We know my brother is smart, disgustingly smart. What if he was using us as a backup incase his plans didn't follow through? You to be like him, because you are pretty close, and me for protection, or something like that." He said sitting up straighter now.

"But why the fuck would they teach me draconic instead of infernal?" She asked seriously. "I can see some connections, but… why?"

"In the event that, maybe one of us didn't make it through the training?" He asked back. "Divide and conquer sort of mentality."

She nodded, starting to put things together. "So, he can cast then. In fact, he can probably do a lot of stuff we both can do, except, he's probably better."

"Yeah. then we need to get better." He said looking at her intently. "We should try to each be as smart as him, double down on what he has."

"I need to work more on the fighter stuff, then." She resolved. "Might be good to have a more versatile weapon arsenal. Besides, if I get bound weapons like you, I can have seventeen daggers."

He nodded and then smiled. "Of course you want more stabby things." He said shaking his head lightly.

"If I have seventeen, I might as well round it out to eighteen. Gives me six throws before I'm empty handed." She shrugged.

"So you will have sixteen on you, and then two daggers bound to to you?" He asked her.

"Yes." She deadpanned.

"Then we are going to have to work you hard to get to that point," He told her. "and a lot of arcane studies."

She took a nosedive into the bed. "Ugh. Magicky bullshit."

"Yeah it sucks, but it is the only way to get the summoning down." He told her, rubbing her back a bit. "Besides I think I might know how to help you along faster."

Her head perked up. "You have my attention."

"Well for starters, I know the shortcuts. Also depending on how fast you want to learn it, your mom will probably be able to help with the spells, that was the biggest hurdle for me." He explained to her.

"My mom's spell teaching style is… helpful but annoying. Like, seriously, 'just think really hard about protecting someone and it should work'. What does that mean?" She put her head in her hands.

"I think she means to feel it out." he told her. "Focus on a feeling and use it. Which isn't too far from what I do." He replied.

She sat up. "Can I try something?"

"Sure." He said turning to face her.

She touched his shoulder lightly, thinking hard about protecting him, and, when she saw a shimmer pass over him, she eyed it for a second before trying to smack him, finding that she couldn't. "Huh. That's a neat trick."

He looked over himself, not feeling any different. "I am not really seeing a trick here." He said looking confused at her.

"It works more on me than you. Made me question if I actually wanted to hit you, and I couldn't." She explained. "Want me to try it on myself so you can try it out?"

He shook his head at her. "You know I don't like hitting you." He told her. "And don't burn through all your spells in the span of an hour." He chuckled.

"Well, I'm confident I'll sleep well enough to get them back tomorrow, but you're right. I only have three right now." She told him.

"Good." He smiled at her. "Soon you will have more spells than I ever will." He joked at her. "Your lucky in that regard."

"Clerics are a bit more spell oriented." She blushed. "But, you'll always be able to do more damage than me long term."

He looked over her as she turned red. "Don't blush over something like that." He said turning her head to him. "Yes, I might deal more damage, but you will be able to be just as gross." He smiled at her.

"Like healing you back up to full in an instant?" She asked him.

"One of the many things, yes." He said, giving her a peck on the cheek, before lying down.

"Sleepy, now?" She asked him.

"A bit, head went a little overboard back there." He chuckled.

She giggled at him, rolling him into his side and scooting up behind him. "Well, I'll protect you, you over thinker."

He scootched back into her, and pulled her hands around him. "Thank you, my beautiful rogue." He whispered to her.

She kissed the back of his head. "Goodnight, and you're welcome, my Eldritch Knight." It wasn't long before Magdiana could hear Astero's soft snores. She was tired, but his theory from earlier kept her awake deep into the night, only finding sleep much later or earlier, depending on how one viewed it.

Magdiana awoke to an empty bed in a strange room. A moment of panic washed over before she realized where she was. She looked around, and stepped out of the bed, quietly walking downstairs to hear and smell the crackling of bacon. She smiled, moving to the counter and sitting on it. "You scared me for a minute there." She told him.

"Sorry." he smiled at her, leaning in to give her a small kiss. "You were sleeping peacefully, so I didn't want to wake you." He said cracking some eggs into the frying pan.

"Thank you. I didn't get to sleep until late. You got me thinking last night… but, when I did finally fall asleep, I slept hard." She watched him work in the kitchen for a minute before speaking again, "I want to meet your brother." She told him resolutely.

He paused for a moment and looked at her intently. "Are you sure?" He asked her seriously. "We know he is smart, but I don't think he will just show his face if we ask him."

"Here's the thing… I'm not sure, but, if you think they were training me to be like him somehow. For whatever reason… I need to know." She made a face, and covered it with her hands, moaning. "Fuck, Astero. This is driving me mad. When it all clicks, I'm going to feel like an idiot. I'm sure of it."

He leaned in and kissed her. "You are not an idiot. You are one of the smartest people I know." He told her truthfully. "We are just dealing with someone who is smarter."

"I have never felt this stupid in my life, As. Your brother is a fucking Mastermind." She groaned, looking at him seriously.

"He is smart." He said in agreement. "But that doesn't mean we can't beat him. It just means we will have to try harder." He said plating breakfast.

"As, he's scary smart. He's broken up all of the information into chunks that we can't even piece together. It's like… it's like the damn puzzle back at The Rook. You can't even tell what the picture is of yet, even though there's some semblance of an outline." She explained. "I'm not sure I'm good enough to figure it out."

He looked at her intently. "And like a puzzle, it will take time to figure it out. We start at the edge of it all, and work our way in."

"I feel like we got a bunch of scattered pieces, and there's not a single edge in sight." She told him honestly. "You know what? I don't care anymore. Just feed me and call me pretty."

"You are beautiful." he smiled, handing her the plate of food. "Now eat you bacon and eggs, naked lady." he chuckled.

She looked down at her chest. "I totally forgot I was naked, to be honest."

"Well it definitely is a nice sight to see in the morning." He said walking over to the table to sit down.

She stole a kiss. "Thank you for cooking."

"You're welcome." He smiled. "So, do we go shopping for supplies for the house before your family arrives? Or what is the plan?" He asked her taking a bite of food.

"We've got to go shopping. I need at least one more workstation for poisoner's supplies. Otherwise, I won't be able to keep up with what these guys want." She told him.

"Ok then, shopping trip it is. I will get supplies for dinner, you get work supplies, and then we can shop for house things when we are done. Sound good?" He asked her with a smile.

She nodded, eating several bites of food before responding. "Deal."

"Good." He smirked, quickly eating his food and standing up. "Okay, I am going to go get our clothes, or rather… your clothes." He said making his way to the chimney.

"Yeah, I don't have any others with me." She laughed. "You're the best!"

He turned to her and gave a small bow. "I try." He said, turning and opening the door before disappearing. He came back a few short minutes later, and set them on the table for her. "Here you go, all present and accounted for, except for you undies of course." He chuckled, sitting down.

"I have no recollection about be where those are. Also, can you prestidigitate these for me, please?" She asked, blinking innocently at him.

"For you? Of course." He said kissing her, and cleaning them with the cantrip. "Also your panties are in my room at The Rook." He told her.

She hummed. "Oh, now I remember. Huh. Guess I didn't need them that much if I'd already forgotten."

"Guess so." He chuckled.

"I feel like I'm being judged." She deadpanned, smiling at him widely. "I'm comfortable with my body… and you."

"No judgement here." He told her. "If you want to walk around naked, i will not stop you." He smiled at her. "I'm just shocked that you didn't realize I took your underwear was all." He smirked.

"If I did notice, it entirely slipped my mind." She told him honestly. She started to dress, and stole another kiss. "I'm ready to shop."

"I have been ready." He chuckled at her. "Lets go adult." He smiled

She laughed. "I like the way you say that… as if we're not already adulting by simply existing."

"One can exist, and not adult." he chuckled. "We are adulting so hard." he said holding out his hand for her to grab.

She grabbed his hand, and stood up, walking towards the door. "Huh… do I have a key?" She asked, feeling stupid.

"Oh! Right." he said reaching into his pocket and handing her the other key. "Here you go." he said holding it out for her.

"Thanks." She smiled, pocketing it. "Was wondering if I didn't get one because I can just pick the lock."

"Oh yeah, you're right. Give it back then." He joked, pecking her on the cheek.

"Nope. It's mine now." She told him firmly. "Now, where to first?"

"Let's do your shopping first, my shopping is perishable." He said to her.

She nodded. "I should probably shop at multiple stores anyway. Let's go."

"Sounds good to me." He said, leading the way out of the door.

"So, master chef, what's for dinner?" She asked conversationally. "Or are you still thinking?"

He shrugged a bit. "I have a few ideas, either chicken or beef. Still debating on what exactly." He told her honestly.

"I'm sure that, whatever it is, it will be delicious." She smiled up at him as she lead him towards the group of stores she needed.

"Oh it will." He told her. "It will be one of the best meals you have ever had." He chuckled softly, watching as she looked around. "And what are you looking for?"

"You mean other than the supplies I need for work? Or just those?" She giggled. "Because I am currently looking for… well, a lot of distilling and chemistry supplies, but I can't help but keep an eye out for anything else."

"In general. I have no idea how your stuff works, so I am just curious is all." He said, looking at some odd dodad's.

She smiled at him, kissing his cheek. "How much do you remember from chemistry class?"

He thought for a moment. "Vinegar and baking soda make bubbles." He giggled.

"Alright. I can work with that." She told him. "That's a chemical reaction, but I need to deal more in exothermic reactions right now. Chemical reactions involving heat, so the supplies I need are to keep the byproducts from that inside and safe from being touched… or breathed."

"Okay, so gloves and a mask. Or use mage hand." He replied.

She shook her head. "Actually, if you get certain beakers with certain tubes and clamps, you can have the new substance move itself into a different vial by way of the reaction. I don't even have to worry about that part. It's all sealed."

"That's cool, I never really got that far into chemistry. It never really caught my attention." He explained.

"Kinda had it forced on me, but, yeah, it can get really cool." She smiled. "I like being able to create something useful from almost nothing. Besides, it's quite the lucrative line of work even if it is morally questionable."

"It is nice to do that, maybe that's why I like baking so much." he smiled. "And don't worry about the morality, there are worse ways to make coin."

She chuckled, picking up the supplies she needed and walking to the front to pay for it. She leaned towards him and whispered, "Yeah, I could be having sex for money."

Astero leaned back and whispered into her ear. "I could always give you a coin when we have sex." He smirked.

"Absolutely not." She deadpanned. "Unless you want to be stabbed." She handed the worker her items, and he bagged them up, telling her a relatively reasonable price that made Astero's eyes bug out a bit. She turned to him for the coin, realizing that he still had her spending money.

He handed her the coin in question with a trembling hand. "Holy shit, that is expensive." he whispered to himself."

"You have to spend money to make money." She reminded him. "Can't make sandwiches without buying the bread, cheese, meat, and vegetables."

"I know that… but damn." He told her. "I am glad i just stick with food. I wouldn't be comfortable sending that much so often."

"I honestly just need multiple workstations. Won't need to buy more of this unless things go very wrong or very right. Now, to go get the herbs I need." She made a face. "And the seeds for the garden."

"If you want, I can grow the lavender for you." he offered to her. "Keep it off to the side so you don't run into it."

She beamed at him. "I love you."

"I love you." he smiled kissing her on the cheek. "I don't want you to have bad days."

"Thank you." She told him. "I'd really appreciate that. It'll save a lot of money to grow it in the long term, too."

"No problem." He smiled at her.

She took her bags and started walking towards a shop where she could get the necessary seeds and plant products. These were priced much better than the more permanent supplies, and she went a little crazy, very excited to get started on the garden. "Now, we just need a cat." She giggled.

"We can wait a bit before we get a get cat." He chuckled at her. "Let's get the garden looking nice first."

She wiggled one of the packets of aconite seeds. "And, nice and deadly." She laughed.

"We will need to make sure that jacob stays away from some of those." He told her, looking around for a place sold decent food.

"He's not stupid. He won't eat the stuff. Very little of this is contact based. I didn't want to deal with that." She told him honestly.

"Ok good, don't want any deaths on the property… that we haven't caused…" He said trailing off a bit.

"Was trying to block those bits out." She said quietly. "I honestly thought that I'd feel worse about having done that, but, after I saw the information they had on Jacob…" She trailed off, letting her thoughts trail off. Her jaw was set, resolute and determined.

He put an arm around her and pulled her next to him. "Sorry." He told her quietly. "Didn't mean to make you think like that." He said with a hug. "Let's focus on dinner… I know you will eat anything, but what would you like? Pretty sure your mom will like it too."

"Well, let's go a little crazy." She decided. "They haven't had your cooking. How about steak?"

"I can do that. And what about sides?" He asked her, thinking about options.

She hummed. "Rolls and some sort of veggie. I know Mom wants Jacob to eat more vegetables."

He nodded. "Then I will make sure he loves them." He smiled, leading the way to the shops. "And maybe some baked potatoes as well." He added.

"Now, I'm hungry. Yum." She told him, pecking him on the cheek. "Thank you for cooking. I really appreciate it."

"You're very welcome." He smiled back at her. "I like cooking so it isn't that big a deal." He said, moving from stall to stall, checking the produce and buy the best quality ones he could find. After a few minutes he had all the things he needed for dinner.

"So, home?" She asked him. "Or since we're out, to The Rook?"

"Yeah, let's quickly get my stuff, and give Raze my key back." He said dutifully.

Magdiana nudged him a bit. "She's going to be upset that we're not around to spy on anymore."

"She will get over it." He told her. "There will be something else to get her attention soon."

"Wake should be back too, I think." She smirked, looking at him conspiratorially. "I can't wait to see him."

"He will be pissed." He chuckled.

She smiled, "So? He'll want to fight us."

"More than likely, or at the very least, get us back." He smiled at her.

"He doesn't even know what he'll be starting if he tries to retaliate." She smirked, opening the door to The Rook.

"Not a clue. Like walking into an inferno, thinking its a candle." Astero chuckled evilly.

Magdiana hefted both of her bags onto one arm and waved at Raze. "Hey, Raze. Good to see you."

Raze looked between the two of them. "It looks like you two have been busy." She looked around before conspiratorially saying. "Wake tried to visit your room last night, but you were not there. He is very salty still."

Astero stopped, and looked at Raze. "how long was he looking?" he asked her cautiously.

"He eventually used the master key to let himself in. He was very disappointed that you weren't there. All in all… about an hour." She shrugged.

He sighed and looked to Mag. "Do you mind leading the way?" he asked her with a frown. "Something is going to be in there." He sighed.

"No problem." She said. "Would you mind watching my bags, Raze? I don't want the breakables to be damaged by the clear booby trap."

Raze nodded. "That is fine. Leave it here."

"Thank you mag." Astero said giving her a small kiss.

Magdiana nodded, rushing up the stairs and carefully picking the lock; she pushed the door open, standing to the side in case the trap was door related. When nothing happened, she tread inside the room looking around for any signs of danger or other traps. Seeing nothing, she stepped in only to literally have the rug underneath her pulled out from under her. She started to fall, and, in the same motion, she was suddenly on the ceiling in a net. "Okay, he's good." She groaned from the confines of the net. "As? Help, please!"

Astero sighed and set his things down, before marching up to the room. He paused when he saw the sight before him, he chuckled a bit, and began to carefully cut her down. "That might be the oddest sight I have seen." He told her.

"We will not speak of this… ever." She told him, covering his mouth.

He smirked and licked the inside of her hand. "That could be difficult… but I will stay quiet for you."

She made a face and wiped her hand on her pants. "Just please don't advertise it to others. I have a reputation to uphold."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." He smiled, moving to the dresser to get his things.

She helped gather his things, adding them to her pack, which was starting to get weighty. "We'll have to do this for my stuff, too."

"We should probably drop our things off, and then go get your things. We might not have enough arms to carry it all." He said as he saw her hefting her bag onto her shoulder.

"Thank you." She smiled at him. "And, I didn't mean right away. I would be fine with waiting until tomorrow."

He smiled. "Okay that works, for the time being you can't just steal another one of my shirts. "He chuckled. He took a quick look around and looked at her. "I think that's everything." He said confidently."

She looked around and found nothing. "You did forget one thing." She smiled, stepping in front of him and making a kissy face, which made her giggle.

"Oh, how could I be so foolish." He smirked, leaning in to kiss her.

She smiled, and grabbed his hand. "Let's get out of here before Wake comes to…" She opened the door to find a blue tiefling outside the door, and groaned. "Gloat."

Wake looked at the two of them like a predator catching his prey. "Well hello! Long time no see!" He exclaimed, looking the two over carefully.

"Hi, there, Wake. How was your trip?" She asked him with a smirk, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, you know. Saw some sea monsters, a few mermaids, and had a haunted fucking dresser." he deapanned at her.

Astero looked to wake, and smirked a bit. "Wow, sounds like you need to see a cleric."

"Which is why I am here." Wake nearly growled.

Magdiana eyed Wake. "You look fine to me. Do you really need healing from a shit cleric like me?"

He took a small step forward. "I know what you did to my dresser." he deadpanned at her. "Talcum powder, and a swift shot to my dick was not fun." he grimaced a bit. "And it took me three days to undo the mess that was the drawers, you evil woman."

Magdiana smirked. "The shot to your dick, as you put it, was not my idea. The rest was all me."

He made an odd look, before he turned to Astero. "Why would you even suggest something like that?" he asked sounding betrayed.

"Well… to put it simply, you poured a bucket of water on my head within the first few days of us meeting… and you threw me off of your ship." He told him with a smile.

"You… you two are evil… this is going to be fun." He grinned at them.

Magdiana groaned. "Nothing that will maim or kill, and nothing that will jeopardize jobs. Everything else is fair game."

He thought it over for a moment. "Deal." He said extending his hand to magdiana.

She reached out to shake his hand. "We'll keep Raze out of the splash zone."

"Good, if she gets involved. There will be blood." Wake sighed.

"Speaking of blood… when can we fight you next?" She looked to Astero. "We feel like we're getting out of shape."

Wake nodded. "In the next day or so is fine. I will be leaving for a few days after that." he told them.

Astero nodded. "Good, we need the training." He said stretching a bit, feeling tight.

"Tomorrow for sure, and maybe even the next day." She told Wake. "We both have long weekends."

"Tomorrow works for me, I need to get things in order for my upcoming trip, so I can't do the next day, unfortunately.

"That's fine." She told him. "I'll keep working on the cleric and fighter training."

"Fighter?" Wake asked, looking to Astero. "What have you put into her head?"

"Me? Nothing. It was all her own doing." Astero replied to wake.

She smirked again. "You know how many daggers I could throw if I was as fast as Astero?" She asked. "I need to be able to do that."

"That would be terrifying." wake shuddered a bit. "I am not going to be the target of… all that." He said gesturing to all of her.

"And, yet… you probably will be." She smiled, sidestepping around Wake to head downstairs. "Anyway, we're heading out. We've got dinner with my parents and perishable foods in bags ready to go home."

Astero followed closely behind her. "Yeah, we will see you tomorrow Wake." he smiled moving out of the room, and down the hall."

"Wait, home?" He asked looking at the back of them confused.

"Later wake!" Astero called back.

Magdiana grabbed Astero's key, and handed it to Raze. "We won't be strangers." She winked at the tiefling as she picked up her bags, walking towards the door with Astero beside her. "Let's head home." She said happily.

"Wait, wait." Raze called out to the pair as the door shut behind them. She turned to Wake. "Since when did they have enough gold to move out?"

"I thought you would know! I'm never around to find out some of these things." he sighed, looking at her. "Those two really are a power couple." He chuckled.

"They were not here last night, but I assumed he was staying at her place again. He did have a very full pack with him yesterday morning, though." She pursed her lips together in thought. "And, I do believe I heard them talking about adventuring once… Maybe, they did earn enough. I have heard stranger things."

Wake furrowed his brow a bit. "Even still, that is an impressive amount of money to get in such a short amount of time." he told her. "It was probably magdiana who got most of it… her work is good." He nodded.

Raze frowned sorrowfully. "How am I going to get my daily dose of drama, now? Where did they go?!"

Wake walked up to Raze and gave her a hug. "I am sure you will find a juicy new thing to sink your teeth into." He smirked at her.

"But, they were so entertaining. Dancing around each other at every turn, and, then, trying to hide their relationship. And, they are both still trying to solve that mystery. I will not find anything quite like that again." She complained.

"You need a different hobby." He chuckled at her, giving her a small kiss. "I am sure you will see them around, and I can always get some information when i get back." He smiled.

She nudged him in the chest with her hand. "Unlike you, I have a job where I cannot get around as much."

"You could always hire a helper. Gods know we have the coin." He told her seriously.

"I couldn't do that. My spouse spends obscene amounts of money to purchase poison he doesn't need." She laughed.

He shook his head a bit. "You just don't like the idea of people doing your work, you think they will royally fuck up." He replied.

"Yes. I have a reputation to uphold." She told him. "Besides, I have to have things to do while you're away."

"And if you had a helper, you could do more. And gossip about your favorite couple." He said slightly nudging her playfully.

"I do not share gossip. You know this." She deadpanned. "What is this about you fighting again tomorrow?"

"I swear you have ears all over this place." he shuddered a bit. "They need the training, and I don't mind helping them, actually, I might be the best one to help them. I can't see anyone else giving them a fair fight." He explained.

She hummed. "You were not being quiet. Thank you for helping them. I get the feeling they will need it."

"They don't realize it yet, but they will." He told her.

Raze made a face. "I do not think I want to know why."

"Not really." He said giving her a slight hug. "Don't worry, if all goes right, they will be absolute monsters." He grinned.

"They are already formidable." She frowned.

"And they still have a ways to go." He told her. "Don't worry, they will be fine, i will make sure your best story stays in one piece."

She kissed him. "You are the best."

"Thank you, I try." He said kissing her back.

Out on the street, Magdiana sneezed. "Excuse me." She sniffled.

"You're excused." Astero said holding her hand, and walking towards the house, bags in tow.

"They say that, when you sneeze, people are talking about you." Magdiana laughed. "If you believe that old wives tale."

"That is a load of crap." He said with a wave. "It is spring, probably just pollen in the air." he told her.

"Ugh. Lavenders probably grow wild here." She complained.

"Probably, you do have the stuff on you incase you get bad, right?" He asked her seriously.

She nodded. "Of course. Besides, I will be working inside most of the time."

"Ok good. Still don't want you dying on me." He said looking at her shyly.

She giggled. "It's not that type of allergy. It's just really uncomfortable."

"Still don't want you feeling bad." He told her. "I know how bad allergies are."

"I'm sure you'll nurse me to health if I start feeling gross." She smiled at him.

He smiled back. "Yes I will, as long as it takes."

"And, I will take care of you if you eat peanuts." She told him honestly, taking her key out of her pocket as they neared their front door.

"I would like a pb&j sandwich." He joked.

"Soon." She told him confidently. "I think that I'll be able to cast more powerful cleric spells soon. Maybe the training with Wake will make me strong enough."

"I am hoping." He said, as he walked behind her into the house. "That way, we will be able to last longer against Wake."

She nodded. "Yeah, we both need to get stronger… and fast. Wake hurts."

"Yeah he does." He grimaced. "I don't recommend getting thrown off ships." He said setting the things down on the counter top.

She started offloading things as well. "Yeah, I can only imagine."

He started putting a few things away, before he turned to her. "When are we going swimming? He asked her, realizing they never actually did do that.

"Not going to lie, I would be so down whenever. Maybe tonight?" She asked.

"That is fine by me, it will help us cool off." He nodded, putting a few of the food items on the counter for later.

She started to put the cold foodstuffs away. "I don't have a swimsuit. Hope you don't mind either me wearing a shirt and underwear or… nothing."

"Not at all." He smiled at her.

"Good." She told him, grabbing her bag of chemistry supplies and retreating into the basement, using the password to open the door.

Astero watched her disappear into the chimney, and started to do a bit of prep work for the dinner tonight, he wanted to make sure her parents and brother had the best meal of their lives. He knew jacob would be an issue when it came to the veggies, so he cut up several pieces of bacon, and quickly cooked them, leaving plenty for lunch and snacks. Once it was done cooking he wrapped up the baked potatoes with a few seasonings, and set them aside for later.

Magdiana eventually returned with just bags and closed the secret door. "I am all set for second day. Should be good to go for awhile. I have three workstations back there so things can distill simultaneously."

"Nice." he smiled at her. "You will have enough poison to kill a small village in no time." He joked as he sat on the couch.

"I'm just going to say… not my problem. Money. Better schedule. I'm happy." She sat next to him.

He put his arm around her pulling her close to him. "I'm happy that you are happy." He smiled at her.

She kissed his cheek. "I love you. Now, when should we go to my parent's place? I need stuff, and don't remember telling my parents where our house was."

He looked at the clock for a second. "Probably soon. We still need to get a few for the house, and I have only prepped a few things for dinner, still need to actually cook the baked potatoes and steaks." He explained to her.

She leaned into him and closed her eyes. "Mmm. Okay. I'm ready whenever you are."

He smiled and leaned into her. "After lunch. I want to eat first."

"Mmm. Food." She hummed.

"How do BLT's sound?" He asked her.

"You had me at 'b'." She deadpanned.

"Then food is coming right up." He smiled at her, standing up and quickly making two sandwiches. He brought them back with him, and sat down next to mag, handing her the sandwich. "Enjoy."

She dug into her meal with gusto, only pausing long enough to tell him. "You're going to make me fat. Also, I am in love with you."

"I am not going to make you fat. And I love you, too." he said leaning into kiss her and licking a bit of mayo from her lip.

"He says to me as he eats mayonnaise off of my lip." She giggled. "We are going to either gain weight together or have to work it off together. I elect to work it off."

"I would rather work it off. And it's not my fault, you like to inhale your food." He chuckled at her, taking a bite of his sandwich.

She nodded. "I like food, and my parents in Yutan never stopped me. Kinda hard to unlearn."

"Challenge accepted." He smirked at her. "I will make you learn to savour your food." He said taking another bit and enjoying the flavors. "I bet you don't even know what I added to it. Do you?' He asked curiously.

"Cheese?" She asked.

"Nope." He said shaking his head. "No cheese."

She frowned. "I have no fucking clue."

He chuckled. "It was a bit of mustard." He said simply. "It was subtle, but if you slowed down, you would notice it."

"That is going to take some doing on your part. I don't even know how to slow down." She looked sad. "Why am I so fucked up?"

"Hey." He said gently nudging her. "Yutan messed us both up. We just need to work on fixing one another. That's all." He said looking at her intently.

"I feel like I'm more screwed up than you are. Either that, or you fake it super well." She eyed him wearily. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He told her. "And I am good at hiding it. I am constantly on edge, and it takes me forever to actually calm down."

She thought about that. "Huh. I haven't noticed. I know that my first reaction to being woken up in any unnatural way is to stab first and ask questions later, but I never noticed anything like that for you."

"I am always looking and watching out for someone who is about to strike. I can't tell you how often I find myself about to throw a knife at someone, just because they are stretching." He sighed, looking at his sandwich oddly now.

"Huh." She thought about that quietly for a long while. "Maybe… maybe it would help if we're disarmed at home? It would put a damper on those reactions, I guess."

He shook his head at her. "No, I like not having to worry about the weapons." He explained. "I don't want to be the same Astero that grew up in yutan, here I can be different… normal."

She laughed, feeling a little manic. "I don't feel normal, but we should try. It's… different here. We should try to be too."

"Exactly. We were there weapons in yutan. Here, we can be whatever we want." He said, sitting back and stretching a bit. "I vote, people who just blend into the crowd. I don't want to be famous."

"I do want to adventure more, though, and that comes with an eventual level of… notoriety. Is that still okay with you?" She asked him seriously.

"Yeah that's fine. I just don't want to be world renowned." He chuckled.

"Oh hell no. Not happening." She laughed. "Rogues aren't famous. Ever."

"And if they are, they are doing something VERY wrong." He laughed.

She laughed "Incredibly wrong… unless you're Mask… oh…" She suddenly grew quiet.

"I think he gets a pass. You know being a god and all." He chuckled.

"I can totally see it now, though." She told him. "A rogue adventurer that got too famous and just rolled with it, gaining power until the fame didn't matter anymore."

He nodded. "Not too bad. And i think it would be pretty smart. Could have been anyone really, especially with a mask and all." he smiled at her. "Hells, you could do it."

"As, I don't know if gods are supposed to get power from other gods… I'm a cleric." She tried to stop his train of thought.

"Okay fine…" He said sitting back on the couch. "Just having a bit of fun is all."

"You, however, could definitely be a god. Your power is your own." She told him, running her fingers through his hair.

"I don't want to be a god. That is way too much power." He told her, closing his eyes a bit as he felt her fingers.

She kissed him as his eyes closed. "Let's not have either of us do that, then. Besides, I don't want to lose you to having to go save the world or something." She joked.

He smiled, and looked at her. "Yeah the world would be too boring without you here."

"You are welcome to call me goddess, if you'd like." She giggled.

"But you are a goddess. To me at least." He smiled at her.

"Thank you." She kissed him. "My god among men."

He kissed her back softly, and stood up. "Thank you." He smiled at her, holding out a hand. "Now let's go get the things from your parents house."

"Let's." She said, grabbing his hand and standing. "Gods, I'm nervous."

"About what?" He asked her.

"To see my parents after the conversation we had last night." She suddenly turned bright red. "They probably think we had sex last night. I mean, we did, but…"

"Yes, several times." He added. "But I get what you mean. I wouldn't be too worried, they wanted to see you more, and the fact that we are going to see them is a good thing." He told her. "So stop blushing, and calm down." He said rubbing her hand.

"I am not mentally prepared to potentially hear sex jokes and commentary from my parents." She whispered, trying to breathe and calm down.

He rubbed her back a bit, and looked at her. "You will be fine. If you can take down four guys by yourself in combat, some jokes will be nothing, besides, jacob will be there. And I doubt that your parents will say that around him."

"I sure hope so." She breathed once more, locking the door behind them. "Not going to lie, I'm not going to miss the long ass daily walk to and from their house."

"Yeah. I was almost dreading the walk to their house before you arrived." He said honestly.

"It'll be much more infrequent now." She assured him. "Or even just me sometimes."

"I figured as much. You will probably be going over there when your work is done, and will meet me back at the house when I get off of work." He shrugged slightly.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm actually looking forward to doing lunch with my Mom sometimes. She doesn't really work."

He smiled at her. "Thats nice, and you do know a good place for lunch."

"I wonder where that could be." She played.

"Just look for the place that has the sexy chef." He smirked.

"If I even knew any halfway decent alternatives in town, I would continue to tease you." She laughed. "You know where I'll be going."

"I would be impressed if you did. The selection around here is… bland. Considering the area." He said looking around the street.

She nudged him. "When you put them out of business, it'll start changing. Competition and all that."

"That will be a while." he chuckled. "The shop is only just getting a bit more business, it will be years before we are that good."

She kissed him. "I believe in you."

"Thank you." He smiled into the kiss. "I am glad someone does."

"If you ever need a pep talk, you know who to come to." She told him. "I've got you. Besides, I can be very motivational." She waggled her eyebrows.

He smirked back at her. "I know, your pep talks are very enthralling."

"I can always give you… verbal affirmations… gods, I'm running out of vocabulary for this." She chuckled.

"And if you ever need a pep talk, you know I am very good at languages." He giggled.

"I would love for you to be my… language… tutor." She whispered to him in a sultry tone, using elvish.

He shuddered a bit. "Okay we need to stop, before we just start taking one another in an alleyway." He replied back in elvish.

"That's so not happening." She told him firmly. "So not into public anything."

"Good to know, because that was getting me a little too hard." He whispered to her.

"Sorry." She told him sweetly. "Later… while we're swimming."

"Yes please." He smiled at her.

"Can't say I've ever done that." She told him. "Way too fucking cold in Yutan."

"Neither have I." He told her honestly. "Didn't want to freeze bits off."

She giggled. "Or tits off."

"Not the jibblies!" He said in mock horror.

She buried her face into his shoulder as she laughed, blushing impressively. "Okay. I need a subject change." She said as they started to walk out of the town proper.

"Okay then. How about dinner?" he asked her. "Steak and baked potatoes."

"How do you like your steak?" She asked seriously. "It's not a deal breaker for me, but there may be some harassment if you like it well done."

"I am not a heathen." He told her. "Medium rare. That is my preference."

She nodded. "Good man. Although, I admit, I like it rare. I also won't complain if it's med rare or medium just so long as it's not chewy and dry."

"Agreed. I can deal with chewy, but dry, is a no no. thankfully I know how to make steaks. Be warned though. They are good." He told her seriously.

"Oh, woe is me. My boyfriend cooks delicious food. However will I survive?" She bemoaned.

"It is a blessing, and a curse." He said sounding dismayed.

She looked over at him, just admiring him for a moment. "How did I get so lucky?" She whispered, flabbergasted.

He looked back at her in a similar manner. "I don't know, but I keep asking myself the same thing every day." he smiled at her.

She saw that they were nearing her parents house, and, when they got close to the door, she cast a spell on Astero to protect him. "There. They will have trouble hitting you now." She said, knocking.

"Why would they hit me?" He asked her seriously, as the door opened a moment later. "Hello." He said to Eri.

"Astero." The woman said in a calm and cool tone. "I see you were able to buy the house sooner rather than later."

"Well yes... Fortune favors the bold and all that." He said rubbing the back of his neck a bit.

Magdiana looked between the pair. "We came to get my things and walk there with you. I'm sure that my directions yesterday left a lot to be desired."

"Mag!" Jacob ran to the door, grabbing his sister's hand. "I have got to show you what I just learned." He announced, dragging her off around the house.

Eri smirked, looking at a now nervous looking Astero. "It was less than two tenday." Eri said quietly.

"I know." He replied quietly back. "We wern't expecting to get as much as we did."

"Please try to take the next steps slower. I'm not ready for them." She sighed lightly. Then, looking more seriously at him. "I'm afraid Mag is going to accidentally marry you two if you're not careful."

"We don't want that yet." He told her seriously. "And we are in no rush. The house was one thing, but marriage so soon… I would rather wait a year or so before we do that."

Eri nodded. "Just be careful. Her spellcasting is different than yours. It's about intent, and, if you're both willing to get married, it's possible…" She quietly explained, trailing off to punctuate her meaning.

"I understand. Make sure we are both fully ready, otherwise, accidental marriage." He said back to her.

"If it gets serious, please just ask, and we'll plan a small ceremony. I'd like to be there for this one thing if I can." She wiped the corner of an eye, looking away.

"I promise you, when the time comes, you will be the first to know." He said putting a hand on her shoulder. "I don't want you guys to have anymore surprises."

Eri nodded. "Come inside. They're going to be busy for awhile. Jacob…" She laughed, unable to finish her sentence.

"Let me guess. He stuck some more daggers into the target?" He chuckled, following her inside.

Eri started laughing harder. "No."

Astero raised an eyebrow, and was starting to chuckle. "What did he do?"

"We have another caster in the family… and he got Marius too." She almost fell over laughing. "That's both of them now."

Astero started laughing. "I am sorry for the shenanigans that ensue." He said holding himself up against a wall.

"At least, it happened before he hit puberty. Thank Corellon." She took a deep breath. "As for shenanigans, I'm honestly not surprised. He's been hoping and praying to be a fighter like us for years."

"Well at least you know he is faithful." he smiled. "Now it will be interesting to see when he smites."

She chuckled again. "That was the first thing he did."

Astero chuckled, and then sighed abit. "I hope he doesn't smite in the house."

"Don't worry. I have mending." She waved a hand. "Needless to say, he's been going crazy trying to figure out if he's a cleric or paladin since it happened yesterday. And, of course, he wants to do nothing but smite. Asked him to try to heal his father… zero interest." She laughed again.

He chuckled heartily. "Oh, I feel bad for Marius then. And I am sorry for your house." He told her. "At least you can teach him while he is young." He smiled.

"Yeah. My guess is that Corellon didn't want to be outdone by Mask, but…" She shrugged. "I have nothing to prove that."

From outside, Magdiana and Jacob burst in through the door. "Jacob can cast!" Magdiana enthused loudly.

"Yes." Astero replied. "I heard." He smiled at Eri.

"Jacob, go get cleaned up. We're going to dinner at Magdiana's and Astero's house tonight." She told him, shooing the boy off for a few minutes.

"Okay!" He called out, running down the hallway. "Dad!" He yelled. "Mag's here."

"I'm coming!" Marius yelled back, coming down the stairs a few minutes later. "Hey you guys how are you doing?" He asked Mag and Astero.

Magdiana smiled. "Honestly, starting to get excited to start my new job."

"That's good." Marius smiled. "I'm sure you will do great."

"Thanks." She told him, looking at Astero briefly. "I'll be right back. I've got to pack."

Astero smiled at her and looked to Marius. "So I heard Jacob learned how to smite. Sorry to hear that." He chuckled.

"Yeah… it was a very interesting learning experience." He sighed a bit.

"I bet. So what happened? Regular training then BAM smite?" Astero asked.

Marius nodded. "Yeah basically. Almost dislocated my shoulder when he did that." He said stretching his shoulder.

Eri held back a giggle. "Do you need me to regenerate you again, old man?"

Marius shook his head. "No. I will be fine. Just wasn't expecting it so soon." He said honestly.

"I'm telling you, Corellon got jealous." She said conspiratorially.

"And Mask loves to play tricks. If this isn't a trick, i don't know what is." He replied back.

"Well…" Astero said chiming in. "You could always just ask him."

Eri eyed Astero for a minute. "Corellon or Jacob?"

"Jacob." Astero said simply. "Maybe he had a dream or something, I bet he could describe something." He shrugged.

"Why did it take you asking that question for me to realize that I can just Divine Intervention and ask Corellon myself?" Eri asked, pausing for a minute. "No, that's cheating. I'll wait for Jacob to figure it out."

Astero shrugged. "I don't know, I just thought it would be the best way to find out."

Magdiana walked back into the room with a full pack. "I missed something." She said quietly.

"Your parents are arguing about which one of their gods is giving Jacob powers." Astero chuckled.

Magdiana looked between the pair and laughed a bit. "Oh, this is good."

Marius looked to astero and then to mag. "It has to be Mask." He said resolutely.

"It's Corellon, dear." Eri said resolutely.

Magdiana rolled her eyes. "Hey, Jacob?!"

The boy came running around the corner and jumped right in front of her. "Yeah?"

"Have you had any dreams lately? When I got my powers, I started having dreams." She asked him seriously.

"Just one." He held up a finger.

She nodded. "What happened?"

"Well. I was walking through a big building, and there was a lot of art and painting on the wall, I didn't really care for those. But at the end of the building there were a whole bunch of weapons! And I played with them and it was fun!" He said rapidly, with a large smile.

Eri smiled widely before looking to Marius. She didn't say a word. She just raised her eyebrows.

Marius sighed, looking over at the smug look on his wife's face. "Don't say a word." He told her.

Eri nodded, starting to walk towards the door slowly. When she got there, she held it open for everybody, waiting until Marius was close, and she whispered. "I told you so."

Marius made a face and grunted. "I am never going to hear the end of this." he sighed walking out of the door.

"What? Our daughter follows your god. Our son follows mine. Besides, he's probably a paladin." She shrugged.

"Maybe." He replied. "You are a cleric, but you hit like an owlbear." He told her.

Eri pointed to Magdiana. "She healed for her first spell." She pointed to Jacob. "He smited. Sounds like two different types of fighters to me."

He shook his head a bit. "Yeah. At least he will be able to heal… if he decides to." He chuckled.

Magdiana laughed from nearby. "This is hilarious, and good luck with that. I'd put gold on him only healing himself for a solid year."

"I'll take that bet." Astero smiled at Magdiana. "50 gold?" He asked extending his hand.

She laughed. "Well, as long as I don't have to pay it right away. I just spent all my coin on getting ready to work from home."

"Well no duh, that's fine. I know you are good for it." He smiled at her.

"Deal." She told him, taking his hand. "Shit. What day is it? Gotta mark it down."

"The 13th." He told her.

She thought about it. "When did the month even change?" She laughed.

"Last week." he laughed. "We were both really busy."

"Sweet Mask, my schedule is screwed up." She mumbled.

"It's ok. We have had a crazy few weeks." He chuckled.

She nodded. "Our entire lives changed this past month."

"Yeah, in more ways than one." He sighed.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I wouldn't change a minute of it." She said quietly in elvish, forgetting that her parents were also half-elves.

"Neither would I." Astero replied back in elvish.

Marius looked at the two of them and called out in elvish. "You two are adorable."

Magdiana turned her head, suddenly connecting the dots. "Oh, I'm an idiot."

"An adorable idiot." Eri laughed next to Marius.

"What did you guys say?" Jacob asked. "I don't know all those words."

Astero looked to Jacob. "We were saying we like each other very much." He chuckled.

Jacob covered his slightly pointed ears. "Gross!"

"Trust me buddy, one day you will find someone." Astero laughed at the young boy.

"Lalalalalalala. I'm not listening." He hummed, ears still covered.

"You goof." He said rubbing his head.

"Calm down, Jacob." Eri snapped a bit. She was looking around, noticing their surroundings, an eyebrow was raised. "This is… the upper district. Did we take a wrong turn?"

Astero looked back at her and shook his head. "No we are in the right place." He told her, continuing to walk in the direction of the house.

Eri looked to Marius, sharing a silent stare the communicated something to the tune of, 'Is he joking?'

Marius looked at Eri, and then to Astero. "So it must be a pretty small place then, if it is around here? Right?" He asked, as they passed a large several story house.

Magdiana shrugged. "It's two stories. Not super grand, but we bought it for a steal."

"Uh… okay." Marius said looking at Eri thoroughly confused.

Eri looked between the couple, feeling Marius's confusion. "What did you two do to get so much coin? I thought you both just worked at the shops."

Astero looked to Mag then back at Eri. "Well, we took an adventuring job that paid pretty well. And we took care of it pretty easily." He told them honestly, not wanting to go much further into the details.

Magdiana turned to look at her parents, walking backwards. "It was legitimately purchased, if that's what you're worried about."

"Well, that was one of the things, yes. But just how much did you get the place for?" Marius asked, as they were now walking towards their house.

Magdiana looked at Astero. "I wasn't there for the proceedings, so I don't know the exact number."

Astero looked to Mag, and then to her parents. "It was just over 1,200 gold." He mumbled, quickly opening the door and letting everyone in.

Eri's eyes looked like they might bug out of her head. "Twelve hundred gold!"

Marius spouted incoherent words, as he tried to process just how they got the house for such a low price. "How!?"

"There were reports a few weeks ago that the house had suspected cult activity going on in it." Magdiana told him honestly, omitting the fact that it wasn't cult activity and that they had done the checking.

"Well. that would drop the price a bit yeah… but that is like several times less than what it should be." Marius said doing some quick math in his head.

Magdiana looked to Astero for rescue. She didn't know how else to explain this to her parents. She hadn't quite expected this reaction.

Astero sighed, and looked to her parents. "Okay… I had help getting it. The lady who sold me the house, knew me from Yutan. She cut me a really good deal, that I just couldn't refuse." He said somewhat honestly, not wanting them to know his brother was involved.

"I guess it's a small world." Eri said, looking around. "Wow, this is…" She shook her head, unable to finish her sentence.

Marius looked around. "Yeah… you really did get a good deal." He said shaking his head in disbelief.

Jacob was practically bouncing up and down. "I wanna see more!"

Astero turned to mag. "You show him around, I will get started on dinner." He said walking to the kitchen.

"I'll show them all around." She smiled, starting to give them the tour. She showed them all around, bringing them back around to the kitchen. "And, of course, the back yard is through there, but there's not much to see yet. I haven't started the garden."

Marius looked around at the back yard. "Well if you ever need help. Eri has a green thumb for that stuff." he chuckled at her.

"I was hoping to get help eventually. I only know how to grow in greenhouses. I've never really grown in a climate like this." She admitted.

"I would love to help." Eri smiled. "I'm sure it'll take some serious adjustments for you."

Magdiana nodded. "Definitely. Do you need help, As?"

Astero looked back and shook his head a bit. "Not really, this isn't that difficult of work." He chuckled. "How does everyone like their steaks?" He asked the group.

"Medium." Eri responded quickly. "I normally cook Jacob's medium well."

"Rare for me." Marius replied. "I like to see it bleed." he smiled.

Astero nodded. "Can do!"

"Can I try mine like Dad's?" Jacob asked.

Marius looked to jacob seriously. "You probably won't like it that way, but the way your mother likes hers might be better." He said looking to Eri.

"Two mediums, I suppose." Eri corrected.

Astreo nodded. "Can do, it will be a few minutes, just waiting on the baked potatoes to cook a bit more." He said cutting up some seasonings.

"Can I get you all something to drink? Water, milk, juice? I'm afraid I don't have anything stronger." Magdiana offered.

"Juice please!" Jacob smiled.

Marius looked to mag. "Water is fine for me." He smiled.

"Water is fine." Eri laughed, watching Magdiana play hostess.

Magdiana started to get glasses and utensils, setting the table, and walking to Astero when she'd finished. "What would you like to drink?"

"Juice please." He smiled at her.

Magdiana grabbed two more cups of juice, bringing them over to the table and sitting down. "You all should feel lucky that you won't be around to hear me complaining about dishes later."

"Yeah I get to deal with that." Astero chuckled, placing the first steak in the pan, and a resounding sizzle was heard.

"It is the one chore that I dread." She responded honestly.

Marius smiled at Mag. "Don't worry so do I."

"He once tried to convince me to cast Heroes Feast in lieu of cooking a normal meal that would require dishes." Eri laughed.

"It was a good plan." Marius replied. "Fills us up, and has great benefits."

"One thousand gold." Eri gestured one hand. "Two silver." She gestured the other hand.

Magdiana laughed. "Wait… you'd rather pay one thousand gold than do dishes? That's dedication."

"I really don't like dishes." Marius said simply.

Magdiana hugged her father. "It's really nice to know where some of my quirks come from."

"You're very welcome." He said hugging his daughter back.

"Do either of you hate spicy food or is it just me?" She asked.

"Guilty." Eri raised a hand. "Well, sort of… I ate steak and eggs with hot sauce when I was pregnant with you. You didn't like it."

Astero walked over with the food. "Oh she did… Steak and eggs are her favorite meal." he chuckled, handing each one their plate.

"Steak and eggs is my favorite too. Sorry about the hot sauce, Mag." She laughed, looking at and smelling the food. "Oh, yum."

"Oh this looks lovely Astero." marius said looking at the food in awe.

"Well please help yourself." Astero smiled.

Remembering their conversation from earlier, Magdiana slowly cut her food, taking a bite. "Mmm." She sighed. "Oh, it's delicious."

Eri started to cut into her meal, seeing that Jacob had his knife well in hand. When she took a bite, she started to eat little bits of everything to prove that it was all just as tasty. "Is everything you cook this ridiculously good?!" She complained.

"Well, not always this good. I did go a bit all out for you guys." Astero admitted.

Marius took a bite of his steak and sighed as it melted in his mouth. "Please move in with us."

"Only if you do the dishes." Astero quickly replied.

Marius looked to Astero and then to the steak. "I am tempted." he said honestly taking another bite.

"Please, no. If I have to move again, I'm cutting someone." Magdiana deadpanned.

"Fine." Marius grumbled. "But expect us over a lot more." He smiled, taking another bite of steak.

"Just let me know when you'd like to visit, and we'll try to accommodate. There are times that even Astero doesn't want to cook." She told them honestly.

Astero nodded. "Yeah… if it is a busy day. Sorry it ain't happening." He smiled.

"Well hells." Marius grumbled. "I guess, it will have to be a treat then." He sighed.

"I am able to cook. Just not with the same skill that Astero can." Magdiana told him. "If you are really looking for a Mag fix, you can just let me cook."

Marius smiled. "That would be nice."

Magdiana took another couple of bites, realizing she was eating too quickly again. She looked to Astero, and saw that he was watching her. She smiled him. "We know how to make Mom real quiet."

"Yes we do." Astero smiled back, looking to Eri. "You must be enjoying it."

"I have no appropriate around children words for this experience." Eri told him honestly.

"I will take that as a yes." Astero smiled.

Eri nodded. "It's amazing."

Magdiana laughed at her mother. "I would make fun of you, but I'm pretty sure that your reaction is the same as my own.

Marius smiled. "Either hitting, or the look of death." He told Mag.

"Yep." Eri pointed at her eyes and then at Magdiana's. "I've got my eyes on you."

"You do not scare me that badly." Magdiana responded. "But, your killing intent is noted."

"Yeah I can see where she gets that look." Astero smiled.

Magdiana looked to Astero. "Hey!"

"Yep, there it is." He chuckled.

"Do not give me that patronizing 'that's cute' face." Magdiana huffed.

"I can't help it if it's true." He said honestly.

Magdiana opened and closed her mouth multiple times, sputtering as Eri looked to Marius. "Were we ever this cute?" She winked.

Marius smiled. "I like to think we were." He chuckled.

Magdiana looked between them. "Now, I'm being patronized by them too."

"We are not patronizing you." Marius told her. "We are jealous of how adorable you two are."

"I don't feel like we're that cute. We make a habit of stabbing each other once a week." She looked to Astero. "Help."

"We don't try to be that cute. We honestly don't get to see that much of each other. So you might just be seeing us spending time together?" He said hoping that would help.

Eri gestured with her fork. "It doesn't matter how you argue. I think it's cute."

Astero sighed. "Still not seeing it." He said finishing the last few bits of his food, and taking his plate to the kitchen.

Magdiana took another bite, realizing she was full. She looked sadly at her plate. "But, I want to finish." She complained out loud to her stomach.

Astero looked back at her. "You can save the rest for tomorrow's breakfast. Steak and eggs." he told her.

"Mmm!" She exclaimed. "I love you."

"I love you, too." he smiled back, before pausing for a moment. "Okay, now I see the cuteness." He said to himself.

"Don't let them get to you too." She told him.

"Im sorry mag, but it's true… we are adorable." He told her sadly.

She laid her head down on the table. "Fine." She whined. "My badass reputation has been ruined."

Astero walked back over to Magdiana and leaned down to give her a small kiss. "You're still a badass to me." He told her.

"Eww!" Jacob said, grossed out by the affection.

Marius looked at Jacob and smiled. "Calm down, it's their house. They can do what they want."

Jacob sighed and began to play with the few remains of his food. "Okay." He said clearly full.

Eri smiled at Jacob. "Well someone clearly enjoyed it."

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. It was really good." He smiled

"Well I am glad you enjoyed it buddy." Astero smiled back.

"Your welcome" Jacob said, letting out a small yawn.

Eri smiled at Jacob. "Well it looks like someone is ready for bed." She chuckled.

Marius walked over to jacob and picked him in his arms. "I think we will start heading out." He said quietly, as Jacob lightly dosed.

"Night Jacob." Magdiana smiled at her brother.

"Night buddy." Astero smiled at him.

Eri stood up and gave Magdiana and Astero a hug. "Well thank you for the lovely dinner." she smiled at astero. "It was nice to not have to cook for once."

"No problem, I am glad you liked it." Astero smiled.

"You guys have a great night. I'll see you soon." Magdiana smiled, hugging her mother and stealing a side hug from her father.

"Will do, have a good night." Marius whispered to her to not wake Jacob.

Eri nodded. "Don't forget to practice your spells. Night."

Magdiana tried not to roll get eyes. Of course, her mother would be concerned about her spells. She quietly shut the door, leaning on it once it was locked. "Thank the gods we're alone now."

Astero nodded and sat down with a sigh. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack when they started asking questions about the house."

"Same here. That was nerve wrecking." She told him. "Thank you for coming up with that cover story."

He waved her off a bit. "Don't worry. It was only 95 percent of the truth." He chuckled.

"Still, you are amazing." She thanked him with a kiss. "Are you still up for swimming? We have that spar against Wake tomorrow."

"Yeah, I am down. I need to relax. And as much as I like your parents, that was stressful." He smiled at her.

She waved a hand. "You say that as if I'm going to be insulted. I'm not. You need anything or are we good?"

"I don't need anything." He told her. "I am ready whenever you are."

She ran upstairs quickly and returned wearing one of his shirts. "I'm good to go now." She smirked.

He smirked. "Well then let's go swimming." He said standing up and grabbing her hand.

"Actual swimming, and not the accidental kind that takes your breath away." She smiled, opening the door again.

"I don't intend on that happening." He told her honestly. "Let's just relax with a swim."

"And, maybe, other activities." She giggled.

"What was that about taking breath away?" He smirked at her.

She laughed, nudging him with a shoulder. "I did not intend to do that underwater. Just in it."

"Ok, that I can work with." He laughed.

"What was going on in that beautiful head of yours, Astero? Dreams of drowning in pussy?" She deadpanned.

"No, nothing like that." He chuckled. "Just my brain being silly."

She eyed him for a minute. "Great, now I'm curious and you're not going to say anything."

"It was just the idea of water gently washing over you as we made love." He told her. "My head has… thoughts."

"And, here I was, just excited that we could be in… sort of… low gravity." She smiled. "And, it's okay. I like what's in your head."

"Well thank you. And what did you mean by 'low gravity'?" He asked her.

She laughed. "Well, you're kinda weightless in water. Could get a bit acrobatic."

He smiled. "We could always give it a try."

"Where are we going anyway?" She asked him as they walked. "Obviously not the docks."

"Not the docks." He chuckled. "There is a place not to far away, it's a nice quiet beach."

She nodded and smiled. "Someone went exploring."

"Maybe." He smirked. "I had some time after I bought the house so I looked around a bit."

"You're amazing." She told him. "Thank you for everything you do."

"Thank you for being here with me." He said giving her a kiss. "It is nice to have you next to me."

She leaned into him. "This is nice. Just being near you. You could stop time, and I would be happy."

"So would I." He whispered to her.

"Hey, if I drown today, please bring me back." She laughed.

"You are lucky i know mouth to mouth." He laughed back.

"You should give me mouth to mouth regardless." She giggled.

He smirked at her. "Oh I will." He huskily replied.

She let go of his hand, and reached down to grab his butt. "Whoops."

He stumbled a bit, and grabbed her butt in response. "Wow, they really need to work on these roads."

"Huh. The road seems fine to me." She smirked.

"Guess I just slipped then." he smiled, pulling her close to him.

She leaned into him. "I love you."

"I love you." He whispered to her.

"Are we there yet?" She asked impatiently.

"Almost, just need to go a bit more." he said leading her off of the road and down a small trail that lead towards the ocean. After a minute, the trail open up into a small beach. "Here we are." He said with a wave.

She gaped at the beauty of the scene. "Oh, wow. Astero…"

"yeah. I thought you would like it." he smiled at her as he walked to the water.

"This is… this is beautiful." She smiled at him.

"I'm glad you like it." He smiled back. "Now come into the water, it is so nice." he sighed, as he walked a few feet into the water.

She removed her boots, tossing them to the side, and wading into the water next to him. "I probably should've just taken my pants off while I was dry. I have regrets."

Astero looked at her and waved his fingers. "I have prestidigitation. I can dry them." He chuckled, splashing some water at her.

"Well, then. Make me wet." She played with a wink.

He walked up to her and gave her a long kiss, before spinning her around and pushing her into the water. "Wet enough?" He smirked.

"Well, I was meaning the other thing, but… you're technically not wrong." She laughed, wiping wet hair out of her face.

"I figured as much. I just wanted to see you wet all over first." he smiled, laying on his back and floating on the water. "This is nice."

She tried to float next to him. "Shit. Daggers too heavy." She grumbled, standing up.

"Like I keep saying, sometimes less is more." He chuckled, watched her walk to the beach.

"I can't dismiss my weapons into a pocket dimension." She reminded him.

"I can't dismiss my weapons." He said looking at her intently. "I can only summon them to me."

She shrugged. "That's what I meant. I still haven't figured that whole schtick out."

"Well for me. I do a ritual. It takes me an hour, and then the weapon is bound to me." he explained. "You should focus on cleric stuff first thought, get that figured out, before you add arcane magic on top of it."

"Yeah, let me figure out what I can do before I dip further into magicky bullshit." She smiled as the last daggers and her pants came off. "Meanwhile, I will learn the more… fighter stuff."

"I'm going to give you fighter stuff." He smirked at her.

She eyed him as she splashed back into the water. "Is that double entendre? Or do I just love you?"

"Maybe both." he said eyeing her back.

She looked at him and laughed, deciding to mess with him a bit. "This was a great idea. I love swimming… definitely not the other thing. I don't know what I was thinking."

He shook his head at her. "Of course you do." He said walking up to her and gingerly grabbing her hand. "Then lets go swim then."

"Sure." She said, taking her hand and running through the surf away from him. "If you can catch me."

He shook his head with a smile, and began to chase after her. "Oh I will, you know I will." He smiled gaining ground.

She looked back and saw him giving chase. She could be faster if she wanted to, but she wanted to be caught, so, when she thought she was a good distance away, she took a breath and dove into the water, hiding beneath the water as she swam away.

He ran for a little longer, before he dived into the water after her. He looked around and couldn't see her, it was too dark, and his eyes were normal after all. So he went back to the surface, and waited for her to surface.

A minute later, Magdiana's head popped up, and she tried to take a silent breath of air, but it might as well have been a whale breaching the waves for how quiet it was. "Fuck." She muttered as Astero turned to find her a bit too close for comfort. She tried to back up, but the water slowed her down, and her oversized shirt made her go even slower.

Astero quickly swam up to her and grabbed her firmly, wrapping his arms around her waist. He spun her around in place, while slowly moving her back to the shore. "Got you." He said giving her a kiss.

She tried to wiggle away, but found his grip to be too strong. "Damn. Okay. You got me."

"Told you I would." He smirked.

"Does this count as swimming?" She asked as he hauled her towards the shore.

He let her go. "No, i just wanted to get closer to shore is all. Openwater can suck." He told her.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm probably not a strong enough swimmer for that yet." She told him, relaxing in his arms. "This is nice, though."

He felt her relax and let her body float on the water, he casually pulled her around letting her body relax more. "Hope you are enjoying yourself." He said with a soft kiss.

"I am." She told him. "There's only one thing that could make this better."

"And what is that?" He asked her curiously.

She took a hand and slowly rubbed the muscles of his arm. "You." She smiled.

He leaned down and kissed her slowly. "Then you should have just asked." He smiled into the kiss. His hands holding her on the surface of the water.

"What? I like to flirt." She defended, looking him over.

"I know. It can be excruciating when you want it to be." he said, running a hand along her curves.

She sighed at the feeling of his hand. "That was fun, though, right? If not, no more flirting with the boyfriend."

"You can flirt as much as you want." He smirked. "I never said to stop."

"I don't want to overdo it if you don't like it." She told him. "You know, I really do like swimming with you. Especially alone."

"Just keep it to a minimum when i am at work." he said running his hand down her stomach and under her shirt. "I also like swimming with you."

She smirked up at him. "I'm willing to bet we can both like it better."

"Oh I know we can." She said before showing her the finer details of how to do the back stroke and doggy paddle.

He smiled at her and moved a little farther to the shore before sitting down. "So much for swimming." He chuckled.

"I'm counting it. That was swimming." She wiggled her hips on his, starting to pull away. She sat down next to him in the water. "Thank you… for finding this place, and for always casting the spell, and cooking… I don't deserve you."

"That is not true." he told her. "They tried to keep us away from each other for well over two decades. And yet we still ended up together. I think we were meant to be together." He smiled at her putting an arm around her.

She leaned into him, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Thank you." She muttered, but she wasn't sure if the words were for Astero or Mask. She just felt she had to thank someone, so she did.

Astero held her close just enjoying her closeness to him. He sighed contently, before looking up to see the stars. "This is the brightest I have ever seen the stars." He told her.

She looked up, taking a look for herself. "Wow." She gasped. "This is… it makes me feel small. You know?"

"Yeah it does." he sighed a bit. "But it is nice to feel like the universe is bigger. You know?" He said looking at her.

"Like… it was here before us, and it will be here long after us. It's almost, kind of, calming." She whispered.

"Yeah." He whispered back, looking up at the sky.

She closed her eyes again as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I wish we could stay like this forever."

He sighed, and gently kissed her head. "I do too." he said resting his head on her.

"I love you, Astero. Until the end." She chuckled.

"I love you, Magdiana. Until the end." He chuckled back.

She sat quietly, enjoying the comfortable silence. The sound of his breathing, the waves, and the distant sound of insects near shore. Eventually, she sighed. "We should probably go soon. We have to get our asses kicked in the morning."

He sighed and stood up. "Yeah let's head home. I'm starting to get pruny." He chuckled.

"I am a prune." She wiggled her fingers in his direction, starting to chase him with them. "And, I will devour you."

"Oh no! Not the prune monster!" He joked, running to the beach.

She chased him, using all her speed to catch and jump onto his back. "I got you!" She celebrated with a kiss too the side of his head before hopping down. She found her clothes quickly and started to dress.

"Tell Mag I love her!" He said out loud, as he mocked died. "Blarg." He quickly stood up, and walked over to her and dried their clothes.

She giggled for a minute. "You are incorrigible… I love it."

"Thank you I try." He smirked giving her a small kiss. "Now let's head to bed. We need to get our asses kicked." He yawned a bit.


	12. Sacrifice the Exchange

It was only years of conditioning that woke Magdiana at dawn that day. It took her mere moments to remember where they were supposed to be, and she quickly turned to shake Astero lightly. "As. We're going to be late. Wake up." She told him a little louder than she meant to, and she must have startled him because, in the next moment, she was pinned to the bed, Astero hovering over her.

Astero blinked for several seconds, processing who he had pinned down before he released mag from the hold she was in. "sorry." he sighed shaking his head awake. "I didn't mean to." He said giving her a small hug.

"I know." She held him for a moment. "I understand. It's okay."

He sighed, simply holding her. "Thank you." he said, moving away and going to get dressed. "Let's go see wake."

"Let's." She said from next to him, fully prepared for a fight.

He held out his hand and the two walked out the door to go meet Wake. They quickly made their way to the docks, and walked onto the ship. They waited for several minutes for Wake to show, but it was quickly becoming clear that he wasn't showing. "Maybe he is running late?" Astero asked Mag.

"Huh." She said, looking around. "I mean… we're here, so, I guess, let's check the ship. Then, we can check The Rook."

"Yeah. let's do that." He said moving to the captains quarters, he opened the door and looked around and saw that the place was a mess. "Uh, Mag. What happened here?"

She looked around the room, and felt her stomach sink. "Something's wrong."

He nodded, and looked over the desk. "It doesn't look like anything was taken. It is like someone was looking for something." He said seeing drawers pulled out and tossed to the side.

Magdiana backed out of the room, running down below deck to check there as well. She returned seconds later. "It's the same down below."

"We need to go to The Rook." He told her, turning and nearly bolting off of the ship.

She dashed to follow him, keeping pace with him. Could she run faster? Yes, but was it safe to do so? Probably not. Her mind went over everything in her head before she gasped, and, in a panic started to dig through her bag, eventually pulling out a small, smooth rock. "Mom?" She asked into it.

"Yes?" A tired voice asked over the stone.

"Is everything okay over there?" Magdiana asked.

Eri sounded slightly more awake. "Yes. Why?"

Magdiana breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't know yet. Something's up with The Raven. We'll let you know when we know more."

"Be safe." Eri responded, but, before Magdiana could put the stone away, she could hear a faint. "Marius!" Coming from the other side.

Magdiana's breath was heavy now from running and speaking. "Family's safe."

Astero nodded at her, before he began to slow down as he saw The Rook. The doors were open and a few windows were smashed outwards. "What the hell…" He said trailing off, before walking slowly into the inn.

Magdiana followed, keeping her guard up, eyes searching for any sign of danger, but also looking for people who needed help. All around the inn and tavern, objects were torn down or knocked onto the ground. It looked like somebody was looking for something, smashing everything in sight that wasn't their quarry.

"Hello!?" Astero called out. Looking for some form of life to answer the many questions he had. He heard a small ruckus come from the kitchen, and her readied his sword. Out from the kitchen with a sword in hand was Wake. Astero dropped his guard at the sight, but Wake pointed a finger, and several blasts hit him. Astero got launched back into the wall, and looked back at Wake in pain and confusion. "Wake?"

Wake eyes were bloodshot a she took several steps forward. "Where is Raze?!" He yelled as his sword began to glow.

"Wake!" Magdiana yelled, stepping in front of Astero. "Stop this. What's going on?!"

Wake kept walking ignoring Mag from, but answering her question. "His fuckwad of a brother took Raze! And I want to know where she is. He takes something from me, I take something from him." He said pushing mag to the side.

"No!" Magdiana yelled, casting a spell of her own at Wake, trying to draw his ire. With the look he was giving Astero at the moment, it looked like Wake would actually kill him.

Astero stood up and summoned his sword. "Fine, if you want a punching bag, so be it." He growled. Firing a Firebolt at him, hitting Wake dead center.

Magdiana rolled her eyes, drawing her daggers. "Fucking, A. I guess we're doing this."

Wake charged forward, and struck astero with his sword. The blade went deep into his chest, and an instant later Astero disappeared. He turned to mag, with the same look in his eyes. "Your next." He growled.

Magdiana felt a moment of horror strike her as Astero disappeared, but did her best to remain calm. She took a breath, squaring her feet before she flipped into a handspring, letting the glass on the floor dig into her palms so she could knock Wake down. A moment later, he was on the floor, and she threw her special dagger, striking him firmly in the shoulder with a resounding boom and hiss of thunder. "Wake. Calm down and let us help."

Wake held his shoulder for a moment, before he tried getting up. "I need to find Raze." He panted, clearly hurting.

She tentatively stepped closer. "I want to find Raze, too, but I can't do that if you're attacking me."

"He took her! For no reason. I came back and she was gone. Just a coin on the bed with an 'R' on it. Tell me how that makes sense!" He said standing up, before he fell to the ground again. A second later, Astero reappeared. Wake looked to astero and shook his head, before he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Magdiana kneeled down beside Wake, gripping his shoulder and healing him, but he was still unmoving. She turned back to Astero, healing him as well. Her hands shook as she touched him, feeling the blood coming from the wound in his chest. "As, are you okay?" She sniffled, tears starting to fall.

Astero stirred, and looked at Mag. "He hits worse than an owl bear… more like a dragon turtle." He groaned, sitting upright.

Magdiana's forehead came to rest on Astero's. "Rivin took Raze." She whispered to him, her tears falling onto his skin there. "What do we do?"

Astero closed his eyes, and sighed deeply. "I don't know." he was sore and angry, and all this seemed like a bad dream. "Why would he take her?" He asked mag. "What reason would he have for doing that?"

Magdiana slowly sat up. "Hang on." She said, marching away and up the stairs to the all too familiar room 6. She almost couldn't help but laugh when she saw a letter in a sealed envelope on the coffee table. "Gods dammit, Rivin." She muttered, bringing the letter downstairs with bleeding and shaking hands. "I can't open it." She said, handing the letter to Astero as she started to pick the glass out of her skin.

Astero sighed, as he took the letter. Of all of the letters he had gotten from his brother so far, this one he was dreading to read. He slowly opened the letter, and read its contents.

"Dear Astero,

I know you have a lot of questions right now, and it makes sense, a lot has happened. Please tell wake, that his wife is safe, and she will not be harmed. I just want to talk to Wake, get to know the man, who has told my brother so much about me. And I would love to actually sit down with you, and have lunch sometime, like a family. For now though, just tell Wake to meet me at the point on the map I have included, and to come alone with that wonderful ship of his. We will chat later, when he shows up.

Your brother,

Rivin."

Astero growled, and looked at the small map. It was out in the ocean. "What the fuck would he want to meet him out there for?" He asked, looking at Mag.

She looked at the mark on the map, thinking on it for a moment. "It's in a place where ships stall. Bad currents and winds. It's where I'd plan to steal a ship."

He thought it over in his head, before looking at the unconscious Wake. "Why would he want Wake's ship? Isn't wake the only one who can control it?" He asked out loud.

Magdiana's mind was working double time, looking to the captain and back to Astero. "There's a way to find out."

"How?" He asked her, getting up a bit wobbly.

"We try to steal The Raven." She suggested.

He looked to Mag, and the to the tiefling. He sighed. "Okay but we need to be quick, i don't want to leave him like this."

"We can take him with us." She looked between the two of them. "We aren't exactly incognito at the moment."

"Fine. I will take him." He sighed moving over to him, and lifting him over his shoulder. Wake made a noise, but didn't stir.

Magdiana quickly healed her hands before grabbing her dagger and the letter and map. "Let's go." She said, walking quickly out the door.

Astero followed behind her, the two of them drawing the attention of several people as they passed by in the early hours of the morning. They quickly arrived at The Raven, and astero set Wake down in his cabin, before walking out to the deck. "Okay I don't really know her to begin." He said, looking over the deck of the ship.

Magdiana took a few minutes, and soon was detecting magic around the ship. She paced around it several times before saying, "I think the strongest magic is at the helm. It feels… I don't know how to describe it."

Astero walked up to the helm, and placed his hands on the wheel. He ran his hands across the edge, and felt a few small engravings. He leaned down, and saw that there were words in Infernal. "Holy shit." He said in awe. "Yeah a spell was cast on the ship, but it looks like anyone can pilot it."

Magdiana walked over to him, inspecting the words. "Must be infernal. That definitely isn't anything I speak."

He nodded. "Yeah. it's impressive." he said looking the words over, translating them. "To rule the sea, a ship you will need. To make The Raven fly, raise the mizzenmast high." He said in common. A moment later magic washed over him, and he felt like his limbs and sight extended throughout, and past the ship. "Okay, this feels weird."

"Wait… can this ship actually fly?" She asked in something akin to awe.

Astero closed his eyes for a second, and shook his head. "No… I think that was just a figure of speech." He said in relief. "But it does make me wonder why he had a crew to begin with… I can basically control the whole ship." He said, as he made the rigging move with a thought, and several coils of rope become tightly knotted in the right place.

Magdiana watched the objects move of their own accord. "Rivin can't have this. If he got it, he would be unstoppable."

"Which is why he won't" Wake said stumbling out of the cabin. "And get your hands off my ship." He said still panting.

"You, sir, need rest." Magdiana glowered. "We were trying to figure out why Rivin left this letter, and obviously figured it out."

Wake walked up and took the map from her. He looked it over for all but a second before he shook his head. "Of course he would want me to meet him there… fucking Greenhorn reef." He sighed.

"You can't go." Magdiana looked to Astero for assistance. "I know you want Raze back. Hells, we do too, but, if you go… Wake, if it were me, you wouldn't come back."

"Wake." Astero said to him seriously. "It is a trap, and my brother is going to do something. I know it. You can't go." he told him.

Wake looked at the map, and then to the two of them. "I have to go." he told them. "He has Raze, and if I know anything about your brother. He isn't a liar. If I don't go. Raze will die. I am not going to let that happen to her." He told them.

Magdiana's eyes met Astero's. "Then… then, take us with you." She resolved looking to the captain. "Shitty backup is better than no backup."

Astero nodded. "Please. We can help. We can do something."

Wake looked at the two of them over. "Your right. You can stay here, and make sure Raze gets back safely." He said standing up straighter. "You two wouldn't last five seconds against Rivin. let alone being back-up. Stay here, I promised to keep you two safe, and I intend to do it."

Magdiana looked to Astero as Wake walked away. Her lip started to quiver. "Why do I feel like we killed him?" She whispered.

Astero shook his head. "Because we did." He said with a clenched fist, turning and walking off of the ship with haste.

Magdiana nodded once, slowly turning and walking to the gangplank. When she got there, she looked over to see Wake at the helm. She didn't know what to say, but she felt she should say or do something.

Wake looked to magdiana. "Tell Astero to keep my sword." He said with a small smile. "And here, take this." He said tossing her a dagger. "For your collection." As he said that, Mag was being pushed off of the ship, and the gang plank retreated. The rigging came alive, and The Raven began to quickly start to leave port.

Magdiana kneeled on the dock, sobbing for several moments before wiping her tears and gripping her newly acquired dagger. "He wasn't even scared." She muttered to herself before she had a sudden realization, searching around for any sign of Astero. He was nowhere to be found, so she sprinted all out until she made it to her parent's house. She frantically knocked on the door. "Mom! Dad! Please answer. It's Mag. This is life or death important!" She shouted.

Marius opened the door and looked over Mag intently. "What's wrong?" He asked holding her shoulders.

Magdiana panted, looking straight into her father's eyes. "You need to tell The King… Wake is going to… come see him the fucking hard way. And, Rivin is going to have The Raven. Please, tell me you can get the message to him."

Marius's eyes went wide. He quickly turned to the house. "Eri! Message the King!" He yelled, dragging Magdiana inside of the house.

"They took Raze." Magdiana started to cry again, throwing herself into her father's arms. "Oh, gods…"

Marius held Magdiana close as she cried into him. He fought back tears of his own, trying to be strong for her.

"Dad…" Magdiana sniffed. "I don't know where Astero went, and Wake gave us his weapons. I don't think he was planning on coming back."

Marius shook his head a bit. "You would know better than anyone where he might have gone. I haven't the foggiest idea of where he could be. Let's go find him, you lead the way." He told her.

"I guess, we could check the house." She shrugged. "Will Mom and Jacob be okay?"

He looked to see Eri, and she nodded at him. "Yeah they will be fine." He told Mag honestly.

"Let's go." She said quietly, walking out the door. She wiped her eyes, sniffing before she looked to her father. "What the fuck is going on?" She muttered, not expecting an answer.

He looked to Mag and sighed. "I only know bits, but from what I do know, Rivin has wanted The Raven for something. Probably to mess with The King in some way, but if Wake is going to Rivin without weapons… He has probably made his decision." He frowned.

"Why?" She responded quietly, taking out Wake's dagger and looking it over. "This shit gets more complicated by the day."

"You know what The King is, right?" He asked her seriously.

She shook her head. "I can only make an educated guess."

"The King is a Lich. A very powerful one at that." He began. "But unlike other lichs, who go out and take souls to stay alive… he has them offered to him. Given even." He said looking her over carefully.

"Offered?" Magdiana asked curiously before whispering, "Astero's parents…"

"Yeah…" He whispered back. "Which is why The King was looking after him."

She looked at her father. "That, I suppose, I can understand, but, if this is all connected, and it is… Why did I get taken? That still doesn't make sense to me."

"From what I can tell. Rivin wanted to turn you into a weapon to kill The King. I'm a paladin, Your mom is a cleric… both of our gods fight for the side of life. It sounded like he was banking on you becoming like one of us… and he was right." Marius said annoyed, unnerved by the thought that went into this plan of Rivin's.

"But, why am I a rogue if he was banking on me becoming a cleric or something? Astero thinks that Rivin was trying to train me to replace him, but, compared to that guy… I'm fucking useless." She took a breath. "And how come they were teaching Astero stuff too? And why pit us against each other? If you're training two people to do one job, wouldn't they be better off as a team?"

"I don't know Mag." he told her honestly. "Only Rivin would know that, and I doubt he will tell." he sighed. "Gods he is an asshole."

Magdiana pressed her hands to her face and groaned. "How in the nine hells is Astero's brother such an asshole?"

Marius stopped in his tracks, and looked at Mag like she had six heads on her. "What did you just say?"

"Oh, shit… I said that out loud." She groaned.

"You knew that, Astero, the guy you are sleeping with, his older brother was the one who kidnapped you and took you from us!?" He said in horror.

"Dad, I… in Astero's defense, he's a victim here too. In my defense, I didn't know any of this when I fell for him back in Yutan." She stopped walking and leveled her gaze at her father. "You're going to try to stop me from looking for him now, aren't you?"

Marius looked her over sadly. He hung his head at her, and shook it after several long silent moments. "No… but I am not going to help you find him. I need time to think." He said turning around.

"Please don't make me choose, Dad." She said firmly. "That's not fair."

He put a hand up, and turned to look at her with wet eyes. "You are our daughter… we will always love you. You don't have to choose. I… we will just need time to… process this." He said shaking his head in confusion.

She nodded sadly, turned around, and ran to her house. When she got there, she called out, "Astero?!"

Astero was on the couch, and he had his back facing the door. "Yeah, I'm here." He muttered quietly.

"Oh, thank fuck." She sighed. "Are you okay?"

He didn't look at her, he just shook his head. "No." He sniffled.

She sat down on the couch next to him, pulling him in for a hug, holding him tightly. "I love you." She whispered, starting to cry again herself.

He turned and hugged her tightly, crying into her arms. "I love you." He sobbed, letting the feelings release that he had been bottling up for so long.

"I'm here. It's okay." She rubbed his back to comfort him. "I'm so sorry."

"I lost another family member Mag, I didn't want to lose anymore." He cried into her.

"I know." She sobbed. "I did too. He was a good man, As… and, he chose his end. He chose Raze."

"I know… but why does it feel like we did this?" he asked her wiping tears from his eyes. "We did nothing wrong."

She was quiet for several minutes, just thinking. "Because… it is our fault. Just, not for the reasons you think." She started. "We didn't cause this, no, but… we're doing a lot of things that Rivin didn't want us to do. This is… like a punishment. For the bad kids who couldn't fall in line and do what he wanted."

"Fuck him." Astero growled, standing up and pacing. "No, this isn't a punishment… Rivin is just a fucking asshole. You don't send someone off to die to prove a fucking point!" He yelled.

"No, nobody normal does, but this is a huge win for him, isn't it? Gets The Raven, kills Wake, manipulates us…" She ticked off on her fingers. "The real question is, what's this all building up to?"

"I don't know, but it is going to be big… Rivin is planning something, and whatever is. It is using a magical ship as a pawn." He told her leaning on a chair to think. "What is the big picture?"

"I have no clue, As. I keep mulling over all the details, but it just doesn't make sense. It feels like we're missing something. Something big, and all of this is over what? The King of the dead. From his first letter, I can tell that Rivin's against him. That much is obvious. The why is also obvious, but what's the end game? I don't see it."

He looked at her for a long moment before he spoke. "We need to talk to The King." He told her seriously. "Whatever is going on, is between The King and Rivin. He is the one who can answer our questions." He said firmly.

"And, for the love of the gods, we can't have lunch with your brother." She said, remembering the letter from earlier. "I will stab him."

"I don't have a brother." he told her seriously. "Rivin might be related to me, but he is not my brother. Brothers look out for one another, he is evil. And by all means stab him. Because if you don't. I will."

Magdiana nodded. "Wake told me to have you keep his sword."

Astero nodded. "I will make sure I keep it with me." he said wiping a tear from his eye. "Lets go get it. As much as I love the house, i need air." he said feeling bogged down.

She nodded. "Let's get out of here." She handed him Wake's dagger. "He gave me that. Feels magical. Sword might be too."

He looked over the dagger and saw it had runes on it. "Yeah it's magical, don't know what it does, but it does something." He said handing it back to her.

She took the dagger back. "I guess I'm up to 16 now."

He chuckled a bit. "Still don't know where you will store it."

"I'm thinking upper back, visible." She told him. "I'm basically out of hidden dagger space. As?"

He looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Uh, you know how I word vomit when I'm stressed out?" She asked him nervously.

"Yeah? Why?" He asked nervously.

She looked at him seriously, so he could see her emotions. "I let slip about Rivin to my Dad."

He shook his head at her. "Please tell me your joking." He said sadly.

"I really wish I was." She whispered.

"Gods damn it Mag." He said covering his face. He stopped walking, trying to process her words. "What did he say?" He asked her.

"He was actually looking for you with me. He just left." She told him.

"Fuck." He sighed deeply. "And I thought your parents were starting to like me too." He frowned, walking ahead to The Rook.

She sighed. "They like you. Just not your… blood relative."

"And they have every right to be." He said back to her.

"I'm sorry." She sighed, looking away and into the distance. "This is all so complicated."

"I know it is. It just came at a wrong time." he sighed, looking back at her. "I'm not mad at you, just… we really need to work on that." He sighed.

She sighed. "I know. I really fucked this one up."

"It just happened at literally the worst time." He told her.

She nodded, gulping. "I will try to be better. I promise."

"I know you will." He smiled at her.

"How in the hells will Raze get back?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know. Maybe teleport." He said trying to figure it out.

"I hope she's okay." Magdiana worried. "Wake seemed pretty positive that she'd be safe, but in what condition will she be? It would be way too easy to… to kill Wake in front of her and send her off."

"I don't think he would. That would mean she is already at the place where they are meeting, and would need to come back from there as well. That is convoluted." He told her, thinking it over. "She would need to be close…" he said trailing off, before looking at mag. "He used dimension door… she would need to be at least 500 feet from The Rook." He told her.

She thought for a minute. "Where was that realtor that we bought the house from located? You said the woman seemed to be on Rivin's payroll."

He nodded. "It wasn't far. It might be close enough." He told her, leading the way.

"What are we doing?" Magdiana asked. "What's the plan?"

"Go in and see if Raze is being held there." He told her.

"Let me be more plain. If she's there, are we eliminating the problem?" She asked instead.

"Why wouldn't we?" He asked her. "If we get Raze back, wake could be called and told to come back."

Magdiana nodded. "Yes, but I don't want to get my hopes up. And, if we leave things as they are, if we quietly let it happen, Rivin might feel more comfortable with us. He needs to be close to get rid of him. The King's men have always had trouble pinning him down well enough to get him. That could be us."

"So you're saying we do nothing… just sit back and let Wake die." He said looking at her oddly.

"I'm not saying that!" She told him. "Gods, I want him to be okay, and, hells yes, we're checking and doing this. But, if we're wrong… maybe, it's not the worst thing. Giving up would be worse."

"Then let's go check the realtor." He said sighing in relief.

She started to walk faster. "Let's go find out what the new dagger does the fun way."

"Then let's get the sword quickly, I want to try it out." He grinned.

"Alright, but fast." She said, picking up pace again.

"It will only take a minute." He told her, walking faster now.

"I'm more worried about Raze than anything." She admitted.

"So am I. but if wake is anything to by, Raze is a fighter. She will be fine." He told her.

They made it to The Rook soon. There wasn't as much of a crowd gathered outside as before. Now, it seemed only to be passersby and some scattered military presence. Magdiana grabbed Astero's arm and lead him around to the back, letting them in sneakily through a window.

They walked into the main area, and Astero grabbed wakes sword. He quickly put it on his side, and walked out as fast as he could without causing suspicion. He looked to mag, and felt the sword. "It doesn't feel right." He told her.

"How so?" She asked.

"Its like wearing someone else's shoes. It feels weird holding his sword." He said making a face.

She nodded. "I understand now. I wish I could say it would get better, but…" She shook her head and shrugged.

"I am hoping this works for us." He told her.

She gripped his shoulder reassuringly. "It will."

"I am hoping." He said said resting his hand on hers.

She stole his hand, kissing it. "Let's do this."

"Let's." he said holding her hand.

She followed his lead to the unfamiliar building, eyeing it appraisingly. "Front or back?" She asked.

"Back. Don't want any extra attention." He said turning down a nearby alleyway.

When they got to the back, she used her tools to start working the lock. "Son of a bitch." She whispered to him. "These locks are avatars of Asmodeus himself."

"You got this. I know you do." He whispered to her in confidence.

"Thank you." She told him, sweating from effort. She wiped her brow before she finally heard the tell tale click. "You're good, Rivin, but I'm better. You fucking prick."

"Good job." he said patting her on the shoulder. "Now let's go find Raze." He smiled.

She put her tools away, and carefully opened the door, looking inside. She didn't see anything of import, so she stepped further in. "I don't see anything."

"There has to be something there." He told her, following her in.

She gestured to the room. "It just looks like an office."

"There is more to it than that, there is probably a secret door or something." He said looking around the room.

"Open." She said in draconic. Nothing happening as she did so.

"Open." Astero said in infernal, and like Mag, nothing happened.

She tried elvish for good measure, but, still, nothing happened. She looked around the room, finding nothing of import. "I have no idea what's happening, but… she's not here."

"She has to be nearby." He said to her. "It's not like she just vanished into thin air."

"Well, where else could she be hidden? Rivin was at the adventuring guild. We could try there. The only other place we know about other than that is our house." She told him.

"The adventuring guild would be too far away." He told her. "And our house, would be too noticeable. Right?" he asked her, hoping he was wrong.

Magdiana thought for a minute. "Not if she's gagged in the basement."

"Oh gods, please let me be wrong about this." He said moving out of the door.

She ran after him, slamming the door shut behind her. She was almost passing him in speed now. "Gonna get my fucking running in today. Motherfucker." She grumbled next to him.

He kept pace with mag, and quickly made it to the house. He slammed the door open, and ran to the chimney speaking the command word as he did so. They bolted down the hall way and in the end room they found a bound and gagged Raze, struggling to free herself from her bounds. "Oh fucking hells." Astero said, removing her bonds.

"We need sending." Magdiana said. "Shit. We have to stop him. Raze, do you have a sending stone to Wake?"

She shook her head, and looked at mag. "No not on me, but there is one at The Rook." She quickly told her.

Magdiana didn't take a moment to think before she looked ready to bolt. "No there's not! If it was me, I'd take it to make this harder."

"Then what do we do?" Astero asked, helping Raze out of the chair.

"My mom can cast it." She determined quickly.

"Then use your stone, and tell her to stop him!" He told her.

Magdiana sighed. "I forgot about that." She grabbed the stone. "Mom?"

A moment passed, before Eri replied. "Yes?"

"Can you cast sending to Wake and tell him that we found Raze? He has to come back." She asked quickly.

"Give me just a minute." She quickly replied.

"Oh, please. Oh, please." Magdiana worried aloud as she waited. "Raze, are you okay? Do you need healing?"

Raze shook her head, massaging her wrists as she paced. "No, I just wished I knew what was going on." She told them, looking confused.

"We were supposed to spar with Wake this morning. Instead, you were kidnapped by Rivin, and Wake took The Raven into a clear trap to rescue you." Magdiana explained quickly.

"That fucking idiot." Raze said making her way to the door. "He better come back." She growled.

"Mag?" Eri replied from the stone.

"I'm listening." She quickly responded.

"I cast sending to him, and let him respond… there was no answer." She said with a wavering voice.

Magdiana sniffed. "Thank you for trying."

"Im sorry Mag." Eri sniffled.

"Love you." She responded, cutting off the connection. Magdiana looked up to Astero, shaking her head.

Astero hung his head. He looked to Raze, with a nervous look. "Raze… I'm sorry." He said quietly.

Magdiana didn't hesitate, striding over and pulling the woman into a crushing hug. "We screwed up. I'm so sorry."

Raze stared off into the distance, before slowly shaking her head. Her eyes became wet. "No. He isn't gone. He can't be gone." She said with a wavering voice.

"He didn't respond, Raze." She whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Razes legs gave out, and she collapsed into mag arms. "NO!" She screamed in despair. "Your lying, he is just gone for a quick trip."

Magdiana held the woman tight, but almost fell over when Raze's weight leaned into her. She pat the woman's back, trying not to cry with her, and failing. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Astero fell down against the wall, crying as he did so.

Raze cried into Mags arms, sobbing and crying uncontrollably. "Wake!" she cried, hoping he would call back.

Magdiana had no words, just trying to guide Raze to the couch to sit, but the woman was not complying easily. Finally, she lost her patience, and was about to yell, 'Calm down', when she felt magic wash over the room. "Of all the times to get new magic. What the fuck." She muttered, suddenly starting to feel peaceful.

Raze's sniffling and sobbing began to calm down. And she let Mag guide her to the couch. She sat down, staring off into the sat quietly for several minutes before she looked at Mag. "He really is gone… isn't he." She said with a hoarse voice.

"He is. This shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry." Magdiana's whispered, head resting in her hands as she leaned down over the floor.

Raze sighed deeply, sniffling a bit. "Thank you, Wake. Always protecting me."

Astero walked in and sat down next to Raze. "I am sorry. I am sorry that Rivin did this." He said sadly.

"It is not your fault." She told him, grabbing his hand. "We knew that this was a possibility. It's our fault for not being more vigilant."

"No it's Rivin's fault." He told her. "He did this."

She patted the boy's hand. "Yes, he did." She sighed. "The King knows?"

Astero looked to Mag. "I think so."

"I got a message to him." She nodded. "For all the help it did."

Raze nodded. "Good if he knows, then he will probably show up here." She said quietly.

"Uh, what?" Magdiana asked quickly, eyes wide.

"Wake and The King talked a lot, did a lot of deliveries for him. They were friends. He will want to come by and talk to me. And I want to talk to him." She said standing up. "I need to go change, I am not in decent clothing to meet him."

Magdiana looked at Raze. Her clothes looked fine. "What do you need? A ball gown?" She snarked.

"I have been tied to a chair for several hours Mag… I need a new pair of underwear." She told her seriously.

Magdiana sighed. "Do you need someone to walk with you?"

"I will be fine. You two should probably prepare yourselves though. The king will probably want to talk to you." She said, looking them over.

"Good." Magdiana said, standing up and hearing the sounds of joints popping. "I have some fucking questions."

"So do I." Astero added standing up. "Many questions."

Raze looked at them and sighed. "Feel free to ask. Just don't shit yourselves when you see him." She said walking down the hallway.

"In case you haven't guessed yet," Magdiana turned to look at Astero. "I got a straight answer from Dad today. He's a lich."

Raze nodded. "Yup, but even then, he is terrifying looking." she added.

Astero shook his head. "I will just think of the most terrifying thing imaginable and go from there."

"I'm not afraid." Magdiana said. "His army, however…. Straight up heebie jeebies."

Astero shook his head. "That is terrifying." He shuddered.

"I need a shower." Magdiana sighed, following Raze up the stairs.

He nodded and followed her out of the basement. "I'll go after you." He told Mag. "i need a cold shower."

"I need a hot one." She responded, slowly treading up the stairs, stripping, and hopping under the hot stream. The water warmed her body, but she still felt cold. She found herself on the floor of the tub, sobbing helplessly. In that moment, she just knew everything had been her fault, and she cried for her loss, for her mistakes. She didn't realize that she'd even screamed in her frustration. She punched the tiled wall. "Fucking homewrecker." She admonished herself. "If you weren't around, they'd still be together."

Eventually, she stepped out of the shower, long after the water had grown cold. In her towel, she looked to Astero. "You're up." She told him quietly.

"Thanks." He said at almost a whisper. "I might be a bit." he said as He walked into the bathroom. He got into the shower and turned the water as cold as it would go. He shivered a bit, but found the sensation somewhat relaxing. He felt his body tense up as the cold shortened his breaths, and he leaned against the wall. He held his head, and looked up to the ceiling. "I don't ask for much. But please, please, let Rivin suffer." He prayed to any god that would listen. He sat in the cold water for several long minutes, before he eventually got out. He wrapped a towel around himself and sat on the bed. Putting his head in his hands.

A fully dressed Magdiana sat down next to him. She didn't say anything. She was just there, enjoying the comfort of his company. A hand rested on his thigh. She stared at a wall, not really seeing anything.

He placed a hand on her hand, and stared at the wall with her. The quiet company was nice and well needed. He sat next to her for a few minutes, before he kissed her hand and got dressed.

She sat there, not moving, not really sure what to do. Her other hand played with Wake's dagger. She didn't want to let it go, afraid that it too would disappear. She found that this one felt different in her hand, and favored a different grip with it. She didn't know why. This one just felt right. Her eyes broke away from the wall, and she looked down to the dagger. She sighed. Nothing she said or did would make a difference now. "Maybe I should just quit." She muttered darkly more to herself than anything.

Astero turned to look at her. "What?" He asked her, hearing the odd statement.

"Maybe I should just quit." She said louder. "It'll save everybody a lot of trouble and heartbreak if I just turn it all off and be the fucking weapon he wants."

"No." He told her. "That won't solve anything. It will only make Rivin stronger." He said a bit saddened.

"I don't know what else I can do to fix this." She muttered.

"We can't fix this…" He said quietly. "Yes, Wake is gone. But we need to make sure he didn't die for nothing." He told her.

She sighed. "You mean for a couple of fuck ups who have no idea what they're doing?"

"No, for two people who were kept around to make sure things were done right." He told her seriously.

"But, what are we doing?" She looked at him now. "Because every step forward we make seems to end in disaster."

"Every step forward we take, is to get stronger. We are not the ones causing all of this." He said looking at her intently.

She frowned. "It sure feels like we are, and it's only going to get worse. He needs us. I don't know why, but, when he's ready…" She shook her head.

"He is not going to tell us what to do." He said walking over to her. "We are not his tools anymore, we are our own people."

"Aren't we? He knew every move we'd make. He knew exactly how to throw us off his scent. He won today. He was miles ahead of us, As. How do we beat that? Because I don't see it." She argued.

"We will find a way. Rivin is smart, but even he must make mistakes. He is only human after all." He said as calm as he could.

She was silent, staring him down for several minutes before she broke eye contact. "I feel like I don't deserve the life I have. I have everything. Raze just lost everything."

"And it wasn't our fault, Mag." He told her. "It was Rivin." He said firmly.

"He would still be alive if it wasn't for us!" She shouted, heading towards the door.

Astero stepped in the way of her. "Rivin killed Wake. Wake knew what he was doing when he trained us. He knew what could happen when he took us from Yutan." He told her firmly. "We did nothing wrong Mag!"

"Then, why does everything feel wrong?!" She quipped.

"Because losing the one you love sucks!" He replied back.

She looked at him oddly. "I didn't love Wake."

"He felt like an uncle to me. Like family. He was a better family member than Rivin ever was." he told her. "So yeah I loved him like family."

His speech made her face morph from confusion to understanding, and, a moment later, she threw herself into Astero's arms. "Oh." She said dumbly.

"Yeah." he said holding her. "I have been here before, and the only useful advice the elders ever gave me was to be strong, and keep focusing on the task at hand." He said looking at her. "So I am going to stop Rivin. I don't care how, but I will."

She held him closely for a moment, eyes closed, breaths steady. "I don't know what I'm doing, Astero. I feel so lost. All I know with certainty is that I can't lose you."

He rubbed her back. "Then make sure I stay up." He told her. "I will charge through whatever it takes to stop Rivin. You just keep me going."

"You have a lot more confidence in my healing than I do." She said. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"You will figure it out. I know you will." He said looking down at her slightly. "You are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for."

She pushed up onto her toes, and kissed him softly, lingering there for several moments. She pulled away whispering, "I love you. I'm sorry."

He held her close for several moments. "I love you." he said resting his forehead on hers. "And don't be sorry. It sucks dealing with all of this, I know what it is like. You don't have to apologize."

"Thank you." She sighed. "Let's go to The Rook."

"Yeah." He nodded. "I have questions I need answered." He said holding her hand.

She held his hand, squeezing it for support as they walked. She was quiet and thoughtful, not speaking, but her eyes were on the swivel, looking for any signs that might cause suspicions.

He walked closely next to Mag, looking out as well. He was more on edge now than ever. He was looking at every person as an enemy, and even as they entered The Rook, he was trying not to worry about every passerby.

Already, the inn looked better than it had. Raze had been busy. "Raze?" Mag called out searching for the woman.

Raze walked out from behind the bar, and motioned for them to join her. "Come here. He will be arriving soon." She quietly told them.

Mag practically pulled Astero to the bar. "Can I get a small something to take the edge off? Please?"

Raze nodded. "Yeah, we all need one." She said pouring three glasses, and handing one to each of them. "Come on." she said leading them down to the room they had been only once before, under the building.

Magdiana pointed to the runes on the wall. "Those didn't work. Rivin seemed to know what we talked about down here."

Raze nodded. "The runes aren't meant to keep information from getting out. They are meant to be a gateway." She said taking a sip of her drink.

"A gateway?" Astero asked. "To where?"

"From here, to yutan." She told him. "It's where The King is at."

"That, actually makes sense." Magdiana surmised. "The dead wouldn't last very long in a place like Asesh."

"No they wouldn't. Nor would the people want to see them." She half-heartedly chuckled.

Magdiana sipped her drink. "It's not seeing them that's bad. It's sensing them." She shivered.

"Or the fact that they would make more dead." Astero added.

Raze nodded. "That too." She said pointing a finger, before the runes began to glow a bit. "Well. it looks like he is coming. You will want to stand up for him." She said standing up and facing the center of the room.

Magdiana placed her glass down, and stood, looking to Astero before watching Raze to see what she did. She suddenly felt nervous. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come.

Astero stood and looked to the center of the room. He was unsure of what to expect. He just knew that the creature coming was strong, he wasn't there yet, but he could sense that already. He felt his stomach drop, and readied himself for the arrival of The King.

The runes glowed for several long seconds, before the emitted an ethereal blue flash of light. The temperature of the room suddenly dropped, as the heat left. Standing in the center of the room, was a tall, thin figure. He was covered in eloquently stitched robes of varie shades of blue, with a white accent. He had silvery white armour covering small bits of his waist and chest, with small crystals of ice protruding from parts. Where arms should have been, only two floating gauntlets were held aloft by some forgien arcane means. And where his head should have been, the floating upper half of a skull rested, with ice forming a frozen crown on his head. A set of etheral blue orbs that were his eyes scanned the three of them, before coming to rest on Raze. A voice emanated from the direction him. "Hello Raze. it has been a while." he said with an eerines to his voice, as he moved in to hug her. "I do wish it was under better circumstances."

"As always, it is a pleasure." Raze told him. "May I sit? It has been a draining day."

"It is your building. By all means." He said waving a hand, before turning to Astero and Magdiana. "Hello, it is a pleasure to finally meet you Magdiana." He said raising a gauntlet for her to shake.

Magdiana eyed the gauntlet for just a second before reaching out to shake it. Might as well add another surreal experience to her feathered hat for the day. The feeling was literally chilling, and raised the hairs on the back of her neck. "Nice to meet you." She offered, feeling like the greeting lacked much of what she wanted to convey.

He nodded, before turning his head to Astero. "Hello Astero, It has been a while since we last saw one another, but you were just an infant." He sighed a bit. "You have grown quite a bit." He said extending a hand.

Astero extended a hand without actually thinking. "Hello… " He said trailing off in thought and confusion.

Magdiana sat down a bit heavily, picking up her liquor glass and eyeing it. She took another sip before looking up at Astero. She glanced at Raze and finally to The King. "Can I just be the first to say fuck this month?"

The King turned his head to Mag and nodded. "I am sorry for all of the trouble you have gone through this past month, I can only imagine how trying it must have been for the two of you." He said turning his head to look at the both of them.

Astero sat down, and slumped back in the seat. "Close to actual hell." He sighed.

The King shook his head. "Not by a long shot." He told him. "Hellish, yes. But not hell."

Magdiana chuckled a bit at the comment. "Sorry for interrupting again, but, before we get too far into this, there's a pretty good chance we're being scryed on again." She pointed between herself and Astero. "We obviously were last time we were down here."

For a moment, it almost looked like The King smiled. He waved a hand and touched them. "There, now no one will be able to overhear our conversation." He said, sitting down next to Raze.

"Thank you." She told him, looking to Astero before turning to Raze and The King. She didn't know what to say, so she just remained quiet, letting them take the lead.

The King let out a sigh. "I am sorry for all of the trouble that Rivin has caused you all. It is not fair what he has done to you all. No one should have to go through what has happened." He said looking at each one individually.

Astero nodded, before he looked at The King. "Thank you. It is nice to hear that, but I do have a question for you. Why does my brother hate you so much?" He asked him seriously.

The King sat up a bit straighter and looked at Astero intently. "He is not happy, that your parents gave their lives, to keep mine going." He said simply, and bluntly.

Astero looked over The King intently, he was a hard one to read, but he could tell he wasn't lying. He sat back in his chair and sniffled a bit. He hung his head. "I can understand why… I am mad." He glared at him. "But I don't know what you do… so please explain it to us." He nearly demanded.

The King nodded. "I can do that. You deserve to know." He told him. "As you know I am a Lich, An undead, by all accounts I should not be here. I should be off causing trouble. But I am different in that regard, I don't stay alive for my own well being. I stay alive for everyone. Undead in the world cause problems, they make more undead. It causes a cascading effect that, if not kept in check, would destroy the world." he paused, letting his words sink in for a moment. "I keep them at bay. Countries send as much undead as they can to me. And I keep them locked away. And where as other lich's take souls, i get offered souls. A soul that is offered is far stronger than a soul that is taken." He said seriously.

"Sweet Mask, and Rivin just wants to get rid of you? Is he stupid?" Magdiana deadpanned.

"He couldn't kill me if he wanted to. He wants to get rid of the idea of me." The King replied. "Which is almost as bad."

"This gets more complicated by the minute." She sighed.

"It sounds far more complicated than what it actually is." The King replied. "Rivin thinks he is smart, but he is not nearly as smart as me. In all honesty. Magdiana is smarter than rivin." he said turning his head to her.

Magdiana eyed him before looking away. "Thank you. I'm flattered, but that guy makes me feel like a fucking idiot."

"He is not as smart as you think he is. Is he good at strategy, oh yes. But in terms of overall intelligence, he is lacking. He doesn't even know that you two have the keys to The Raven." The King said in a happy voice.

"Wait, what? What do you mean the keys?" Astero asked confused.

"The Raven is a magical ship, and anyone can use it, assuming the know infernal or the command word. But without the sword and dagger that go with it. The ship will only work at a quarter of it's full potential." The King said with a small chuckle, before turning to Raze. "Wake was smart giving them those."

Raze nodded. "He was always smart, his ego just got in the way from time to time." She half smiled, half frowned.

Magdiana looked to Astero, and, then, to the dagger that Wake had given her. "Great. More reason for him to try to sink his teeth into us."

"He has no idea that they are needed. He thinks he has won, he has the ship… for now." The king told her.

"For now?" She asked, getting a small smirk to pull at the corners of her lips. "This is going to be good isn't it?"

"Yes." The King said, turning his head to look like he was smiling. "I take it he probably wants to meet with you in the near future. It will more than likely be his own victory gift to himself." He said looking to Astero. "Simply follow his 'plan' and he will set himself up for failure. And when the time comes. You will know when to strike. It will be painfully obvious." He laughed.

"You are having far too much fun with this." Astero said looking him over. "Like this is a game to you."

The king looked at Astero intently, almost looking through him. "I do not play games." He told him firmly. "Not when lives are at stake. This is revenge. Rivin thought he could take me out, and use you two to do it. He still believes he can win. He won't. He never will."

"Do I get to stab him in this plan of yours?" She asked seriously. "Because you already got rid of the assholes that spied on us for our whole lives, and I've got some aggression to work out."

The King nodded. "Of course. It would be rude if I didn't let you." He turned his head to Astero. "Do you mind stabbing your sibling?" He asked him.

"I will take his head off if you like." He told him. "He might be related to me, but he is not my family." Astero said looking to Magdiana.

Magdiana reached over, taking Astero's hand. She blushed prettily at the implication of Astero's words. She looked to Raze, and actually saw a little bit of excitement in her face, which was nice to see, but Mag couldn't look at The King. She didn't think she could read his face anyway. Her eyes met Astero's, but she couldn't summon the words. So, she just squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Astero smiled and squeezed her hand back, before looking back at The King. "I have no qualms. I just want to make sure that Mag's family is kept safe. I don't want another death, other than Rivins." He told him.

The King nodded deeply. "If he gets anywhere close to that house, we won't have to worry about this plan anymore. He will be gone." He said seriously.

"Good." Astero sighed in relief.

"Serious question." Magdiana whispered.

"Serious answer." The King replied.

She looked at him as she spoke now. "Before all the crazy started, both he and I," Magdiana pointed between herself and Astero again, "either saw or felt the presence of one of your charges nearby. How did one get in Astero's house? I've been trying to figure it out, and I'm coming up short."

"An undead mouse." He told her simply. "If it breathes there is an undead version of it." He shrugged.

Magdiana burst into laughter. She looked at Astero and laughed harder. "You were kept awake by a mouse." She wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye. "That's hilarious."

"It was really loud!" Astero replied.

The King nodded. "If im not mistaken is was skeletal in nature. So it would be louder." He added.

"Oh." Magdiana suddenly grew quiet from her previous laughter. "Oh…" She looked to The King. "I… just realized…" She gulped, worrying her hair with a hand. "Thank you."

The king tilted his head a bit and turned to Astero. "You still must be a pretty light sleeper."

Astero hung his head in defeat. "Yeah… I can be." He sighed.

Magdiana lightly backhanded Astero in the arm. "Will you thank him, you idiot. He just said anything that breathes has a fucking undead version."

"Oh. Uh, thank you." He said to The King.

"Do not worry, it is very difficult for some of those to become undead. I haven't seen them all. Which is a good thing." The king said waving his hands for them to relax.

Magdiana sat quietly for just a moment before she finally asked. "How do you decide what people to take? What sets them apart?"

The king looked at her. "I do not take. I ask. I look for people who are over good natured, and try not to harbour grudges. People who are genuinely nice down to earth people." He told her. "Like I said before offering a soul is much stronger than taking. So if I am not careful about who I ask. They could corrupt me."

"The files make sense now." Magdiana whispered, thinking about all of the contents she'd found inside of hers and Astero's.

"Yes. I try to do research on who I ask." He nodded.

"So… were the contents of our files for Rivin or for you?" She asked.

"Both. I looked for what was needed. He looked for what he wanted." The king told her. "Sorry he violated your privacy." He said sadly. "That should not have been done."

Magdiana shrugged. "It's done. I'm over it. Can't exactly take it back."

Astero nodded. "Yeah, it happened, but we got over it."

The King nodded. "Thank you. I am glad you two are so strong."

"This past month hasn't exactly made us feel strong." She replied honestly. "Far from it."

"Trust me when I say this. You two are far stronger than you realize." He told them. "Rivin tried to keep you two apart, yet, you kept going back to one another. Clearly you are stronger together, than apart. And Rivin is afraid of that. Keep working to get stronger, and you two will beat him thoroughly."

Magdiana squeezed Astero's hand again. "It seemed like he'd given up on separating us from his last few messages, but it's hard to tell."

Astero smiled at mag. "He said he was glad we were together."

The king nodded, and leaned in a bit. "It is a bluff. I hate to say that, but it is true. He wouldn't have tried to keep you apart if he was going to let you stay together."

"Thank you." She said, looking to Astero. "We'll be sure to be on our toes, then."

"Yeah he will have trouble taking us by surprise." Astero looked back at Magdiana.

"Good." The king said with a firm and solid nod. "Do you have any other questions for me?"

"Two, actually, now that I'm thinking about it." Magdiana nodded.

"Ask away." The king said simply.

"Who were the people that attacked Astero and I the day before we left Evermore? And, were you the cause of the blizzard?" She asked quickly.

"The blizzard was cover. Very hard to see undead in a blizzard. And i was the one who sent the men. I need to get you away from town." He told them.

She hummed, nodding. "Thanks for that. Made the cleric juju start working."

"You're welcome, and sorry for sending them." He said apologetically.

Magdiana looked to Astero. "I have no other fully formed questions at the moment. You?"

"Do you want us to help keep you alive?" Astero asked morbidly.

The King sighed and looked at Astero. "I can not ask you to do that. Your parents wanted you to live a long and happy life. So I will not let you do that." He said honestly.

Astero nodded. "Thank you, I am glad they wanted to not have that happen to me." He smiled, wiping away a tear.

Magdiana's hand gripped Astero's tighter. "They wanted you to have a long happy life." She didn't say the rest of what she was thinking. Her eyes met The King's in understanding.

The king nodded slightly at Magdiana, and looked to astero. "Yes they did. And they are very proud of you." He said resting his hand on his.

Magdiana looked away from The King, and yawned. "Well, today has been exhausting. We done here?"

"Yeah I have no more questions." Astero said feeling exhausted himself.

The King nodded, looking at the two of them. "Okay then go get some sleep. I still need to talk to Raze about a few personal things. Sleep well you two, it was nice finally meeting you." He said shaking both of their hands.

"Nice to meet you." Magdiana said, shaking his hand, her other hand still holding Astero's.

"Yes, it was nice to put a face to a name." Astero chuckled.

The king laughed, and nodded. "Yes, well in my case it's more of a skull." He chuckled.

"I'm sure you have your mother's eyes or some such." Magdiana joked back.

"Yes, I have her cheek bones." The king laughed.

Magdiana grabbed Astero tightly, walking out the door and upstairs. When the air started to warm, she sighed. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you." He whispered back, leaning against her lightly.

She took a shuddering breath, trying to stave off tears. "Let's go home."

"Yeah. let's." He said, leading her back to the house, silently walking back.

Magdiana didn't speak for the entire walk. Her mind was too busy. She felt numb all over. She was scared, but she wasn't angry. She couldn't even summon the energy or wherewithal to try to prevent what she'd just learned. She looked at Astero. She was more worried about him than herself. She just wanted Astero to be okay. He'd already lost so many people. She knew he wouldn't take it well if he found out. She sighed, exhausted and resigned. There wasn't much else she could do. She'd already accepted it.

Astero got undressed and lied down in bed he was too tired to even want to take a shower. He opened the covers for Magdiana to sleep next to him. "Today, has been too long." He sighed, resting his head on a pillow.

Magdiana stripped down, quickly joining him. "Yeah, it has." She smiled wanly at him.

"I am glad you are here." He whispered to her. His eyes closing, and he quickly fell asleep.

Magdiana waited until long after Astero's breaths had evened out into the steady breaths of rest before she quietly let her tears fall. She cried for many reasons. For Wake, for Astero, for herself and her family. She sniffled, wiping the salty tears away before exhaustion took her, and the comfort of Astero's arms finally allowed her to rest.

Astero woke up and made breakfast, it was his last day off. And he didn't really have any plans, so he was going to make sure he spent the day with Mag.

Magdiana was awoken to breakfast in bed. It startled her awake, but, thankfully, she had no weapons on her. "As?" She asked groggily as she processed who'd woken her.

"Yeah it's only me. Made breakfast for you." He said placing the plate close to her. "Sorry to startle you."

"It's fine." She yawned, rubbing her eyes. "Ugh. I slept like shit."

"Everything all right? I mean besides the obvious." He asked her seriously.

She shrugged. "All the obvious things kept me up last night. Had a good cry, to be honest."

"Sorry." He said kissing her lightly. "Yesterday was bad for everyone." He sighed.

"Yeah." She sighed, taking a bite of food and chewing slowly, finding she just wasn't that hungry, but forcing herself to eat for Astero. "Shit. We have to work tomorrow. I'm not ready."

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm not, but I'm going to try." He told her honestly.

"Can we just do nothing today? Like… I probably would've offered to go adventure, but I feel like we've had enough excitement for like a week." She grumbled.

"That's fine by me. Sitting back and doing nothing is the best thing i have heard all week." he nodded, taking another bite of his food.

She took another bite of food and sighed. "This is delicious, but I can't do it." She pushed the plate away.

He nodded. "It's fine. As long as you get something into you, i will be happy. If you are hungry, just let me know okay?" He asked her taking her plate for her.

"I will. Promise." She sighed again, looking away from him. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." He told her honestly. "It's not your fault."

"Yeah." She said, drawing out the word. She hopped out of bed, stealing his shirt and rejoining him on the bed. She laid down again. "This is nice."

"It is. It is needed." he said finishing his food, and going to wash it. Coming back a few minutes later and sitting down next to her. Enjoying her presence.

Magdiana curled into his arms, closing her eyes firmly before she whispered. "I'm scared, Astero."

"Scared? Scared of what?" He asked her.

She chose her words carefully. "The future."

He held her tightly, and gave her a light kiss. "Don't worry. We will get through it together, as a team."

"That's what I was afraid you were going to say." She whispered. "He's going to pull us apart."

"Wait. what? Who is going to pull us apart?" He asked her seriously.

She gulped, realizing she'd said too much. "Rivin. Sounded like he'd try to sabotage us yesterday."

"He won't." He told her seriously. "We are going to stop him." He said holding her close to him.

"We will." She determined, kissing him softly. "I love you."

"I love you." He told her, giving her a soft kiss in kind. He simply held her, wanting to relax with her by his side.

"Let's get an adventuring job next weekend. We're going to need to be a lot stronger to deal with your brother." She whispered.

"Yeah. we will do that." He told her. "Rivin will be stopped."

She buried her head into his chest, smelling his comforting scent. "As?"

"Yes Mag?" He asked her.

"Distract me? Please?" She begged. "Let's… make pasta or play cards or… I don't know, but please help me. I can't get out of my own head."

"Okay, I can do that." he told her standing up, and grabbing her hand. He gently brought her downstairs, and into the kitchen. He sat her down in a chair and pulled out a few glasses. He set them on the table, and pulled out a deck of cards. "Let's play cards." He said shuffling them.

She looked at the glasses. "What do you want to drink?"

"Well we don't have any alcohol, so I will just have some juice." He smiled.

"We need alcohol." She grumbled, getting him some juice and herself milk.

"Yeah. I will get some on the way home tomorrow." He told her, dealing some cards to her.

She nodded. "Thank you. What are we playing?"

"Go fish." He chuckled.

"Gods, I think the last time I played that… I was six." She laughed.

"Yeah… actually I think I was in that game." He smiled at her.

She thought about it. "I remember now. That was the day you pulled my hair and I bit you."

"Uh, yeah it was. That left a mark." He chuckled.

"I did?" She asked curiously.

He nodded and lifted his leg, showing a set of fading teeth marks. "Yeah, the first of many marks." He chuckled.

She frowned. "I'm so sorry." Her eyes moved over his body, seeing a few of the marks she'd left. "I guess that, in the end, I was just claiming you as my own."

"Don't be sorry." He told her. "Pretty sure I left my own share of marks on you. And yeah I guess you were." He laughed.

"I figured out what tattoo I want next." She told him.

"Oh really? What's that?" He asked her curiously.

She smirked. "Just some waves…"

"Waves?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow. "And what else?"

"A ship." She told him. "To remind us of your uncle." She winked.

He closed his eyes, and shook his head a bit. "Of course you would." He smiled at her.

"It's going right on my ass." She joked.

"I can't tell if Wake would like it, or hate it." He joked back.

"He'd be angry for a bit and then flattered." She told him resolutely. "I'll probably put it on my other shoulder."

"Yeah that is a good spot." He nodded. "Not sure Raze would like you having a tramp stamp to remember her late husband." He chuckled.

Magdiana laughed. "It would be on my ass not my lower back. He was a pain in the ass."

"A good reminder." He laughed. "I am glad you are not putting it on your ass. I don't want someone touching it." He said taking a sip of his juice.

She drew a card. "Figured as much. That's your real estate."

Astero set a pair to the side, and drew a card. "Yes it is. Do you have any threes?" he asked her.

"Go fish." She told him. "Astero?"

He drew a card, and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"If what happened to Wake happened to me, I'd want you to move on. Be happy." She told him.

He paused for a minute, looking her over, before he nodded. "I would certainly try. It wouldn't be easy, but… I would try." He told her. "What's with the sudden deep insight?"

"Yesterday made me feel very… mortal." She told him honestly.

"I understand. Don't worry though we have time." He told her honestly. "It will be a long time before that happens."

"I hope so." She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "Do you have any Jack's?" She asked.

He smiled at her slightly, and handed her a jack. "Here you go." He sighed, a bit annoyed that is was the card he just pulled.

"Thank you kindly, love." She smirked, placing the cards on the table.

He looked at his hand, and looked back at her. "Any tens?" He asked her. "And do you have any preference for dinner?"

"Whatever's easy for you. You deserve a day off." She told him honestly, handing him her ten. "I was going for that one next round."

He stuck his tongue out at her. "It was what I needed." he smiled placing the pair to the side. "Good, wasn't really planning on cooking."

"Good." She sighed, playing a pair when she drew next. "I have another question."

"Okay. I have an answer." He replied.

"I don't think you do." She chuckled.

"Well what's the question?" he said shaking his head a bit.

"Marry me?" She asked him quickly.

"Uh…" He said looking at her, processing her words for a minute.

She smiled at him. "You can take your time. I don't need an answer immediately."

He shook his head a bit at her. "No it's not that, your mom wanted me to at least take our time with this. Yes, I do want to marry you. I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon." He said honestly.

"We're basically in the middle of a war, Astero. We don't have the luxury of time. Rivin could decide to drop the anvil tomorrow. I want all of you, and I want to give you all of me." She told him. "I love you."

He nodded slowly at her. "I love you." He said looking her in the eyes. "Yes, lets get married. But let's have your mom marry us. She said she wanted to do it… I hope she says yes." he sighed a bit.

"She will." She told him confidently, reaching over and holding his hand. "She wants to be there, even if things are more complicated than not."

"Yeah she did say she wants to be there." he smiled at her. He held her hand, and leaned over to kiss her. "Thank you." he smiled at her.

She kissed him. "I love you. And, thank you. You could have said no… to dating… to marriage, and I would've accepted it."

"You and I, have been through so much together. Blizzards, conspiracies, even the craziest relationship I have ever known." He smiled at her. "What is one more step?" He asked rhetorically.

Her hand squeezed his. "Together until the end." She whispered.

"Until the end." He whispered back, his hand squeezing hers.

"Now, do you have any fours?" She winked.

"Go fish." He winked back.

She laughed, drawing a card. "Damn."

He laughed as well. "Got any aces?"

"I remember why I bit you that night." She handed him the card.

"And yet, if this was poker you would be beating me senseless." He chuckled.

She chuckled. "I do have a flush in my hand right now."

He thought it over in his head, and quickly looked at his cards. "Can you count cards? Because that sounds wrong." He chuckled.

"No." She lied.

"I am really glad we are not playing poker. Especially strip poker, you would be fully clothed, and i would be stark naked." He shook his head.

"You're not playing strip poker right." She laughed.

"Clearly, but it sounds like I would still be… losing." He smirked.

She eyed him. "I will happily strip you. Poker or otherwise."

He looked over her body. "I know you would, I have seen you do it." He smirked at her.

"Do you have any queens?" She asked, looking at her hand.

"Just one." He said looking at her intently, handing her a card as he did so.

"You're a saccharine bastard. You know that?" She teased, playing the cards on the table and doing math in her head. "Fuck. You just won."

He looked at the piles and to their hands. "That is insane that you figured that out so quickly." he chuckled. "And yes. I know." He smirked.

"It's okay. You're my sweet Astero." She made a face at him.

He leaned in and kissed her. "And you are my queen." He told her.

"I am far, far from royalty." She said to him.

"That is not true." He told her honestly. "You have the body for it, and I am pretty sure you could pass yourself off if you wanted to."

"I'm good with disguises, but I wasn't trained to be refined, As. I might as well have a town caller following me screaming, 'Not royalty! Be not concerned'."

He laughed and kissed her nose. "You are still a queen to me." He told her, taking the cards back. "Now what next?" He asked putting the cards in the box.

"Chocolate." She smirked.

He thought for a moment, and smirked at her. "It's a good thing we have some then." He said standing up and going to get the sweet. He came back and handed her the bar of chocolate. "Here you go." He smiled at her.

"You are a saint." She said, breaking a piece of the bar off, placing it in her teeth and offering some to him.

He smirked and leaned in to take the chocolate. He kissed her passionately for a moment before pulling away with the sweet treat in his mouth. "That's good." He smiled.

"You're not so bad yourself." She giggled.

He broke a piece off of the bar and looked at her. "Well if you want more." He smirked, placing the piece of chocolate between his teeth. "Come get it."

She leaned over, stealing half of the chocolate with a bite, and kissing him soundly. She hummed with pleasure as she pulled away. "I could do that all day."

"Nothing is stopping us." He smirked, putting another piece of chocolate in between his teeth.

She giggled, repeating the procedure again. "I'm not complaining either way."

"Good. Because I am fine with doing this." He smirked, relaxing as he did so.

She leaned in and kissed him thoroughly, starting to crawl over the table to him as she made out with him. Eventually, she pulled her lips away. "I like this table. Nice and sturdy."

"I know you do. It was fun last time." he smirked, placing a hand on her cheek.

She leaned into his touch. "That feels nice." She sighed. "I love you. Hey, do you want to work on that puzzle? We never finished it."

"Yeah. Let's do that. It would be nice to get a good chunk of it done." He smiled, leaning in to kiss her.

She smiled, stepping off of the table. "Let me go get it. I think it made its way into the living room."

Astero got up and followed her. "Let's put it together in there, we can keep the kitchen table clear for eating." He chuckled.

She smiled, sitting down on the couch and carefully opening the puzzle box, putting the built pieces out on the coffee table. He sat down beside her, and put the few pieces together. She smiled over at him, starting to sort pieces again.

She started piecing together another boat, but obviously had a few wrong pieces since they weren't coming together. "Do you need sails? These aren't working for me."

He looked at the pieces for a moment before he grabbed a few. "No, but I do need clouds." He said, fitting one of the pieces into the right place.

"Motherfucker." She muttered. "I should've noticed."

"It's fine, I only noticed because it had blue on it." He chuckled.

She kissed his cheek. "Well, thank you for being observant. My hero."

"Anytime. My queen." He said kissing her back in kind, moving some more pieces around to fit.

"I think that I could get used to being called queen, Magdiana." She smiled. She started putting more pieces together when a knock came at the door. She looked to Astero. "Were you expecting someone?"

He shook his head. "No, were you?" He asked her, standing up.

"No. And, I'm not decent." She whispered, quickly running up stairs to pull on a pair of bottoms.

Astero walked over to the door while Mag changed, he opened the door. "Hello?" He asked curiously.

"Astero, it's good to see you." Eri smiled at the young man. Jacob was at her side bouncing in excitement. "I hate to ask this, but Marius and I have to handle some business. Would you mind?"

He nodded, looking at Eri apologetically. "Yeah, we can watch him for a while." He said opening the door for Jacob to run in.

"I get to hang out with Mag!" Jacob said running in happily.

"Thank you." Eri told him quietly. "The King needs us to do something. It's not safe to bring him."

He nodded. "It's fine if you need to stay longer, just keep us posted. We will look after him." Astreo told her confidently.

Magdiana came down from upstairs. "Oh! Hey, Mom. Jacob. I didn't expect you so soon after yesterday."

Eri made a face similar to one of Magdiana's own. "I'm still processing that at the moment, but I know Jacob will be safe with you. See you tonight."

Astero nodded and saw her off. "See you later." He said to her, before turning to Magdiana, and Jacob. "Well, it looks like our plans have changed." He half-heartedly chuckled.

Magdiana nodded. "Yeah, it sounds like it." She sadly looked at the still incomplete puzzle.

Astero walked up to Mag and brought her to the side. "Your parents need to do something for The King, so we are watching Jacob for them." He whispered to her.

"Understood." She whispered back, looking to Jacob. "Have you finished your training for today?"

Jacob shook his head at her. "No we didn;t get to do it today, mom and dad were busy." He frowned a bit.

"Then, I guess we're working out." Magdiana smiled at the two of them.

Astreo nodded. "I will help for a bit, before I need to go to the store. Wasn't expecting to feed a monster like Jacob." He chuckled at her brother.

"Between the three of us, we could eat a horse." She laughed.

"Yeah, let's eat a horse!" Jacob enthused.

Astero shook his head. "As much as I want to cook a horse, we don't have the coin buddy." He chuckled.

"It's a figure of speech, bro. We're not actually going to eat a horse." She laughed. "Now, let's go work on Astero's punching bag for a bit before we go for a jog."

"Aw. okay." Jacob sighed, before smiling at the sound of training.

"Don't worry. I will make sure you are well fed." Astero smiled at him.

"Just be easy on yourself. Don't go all out, please. I'd be happy with a grilled cheese." She told him honestly.

"I was planning on fast and simple, but still tasty." He smiled back at her.

She nodded. "Good. Now, let's go work out so that I can show Jacob how real smiting is done."

Astero nodded. "Lead the way. I guess we will figure out where the training area will be." He chuckled.

She sighed. "I was going to have it be the basement." Magdiana whispered to him.

"Oh…" He grimaced. "Ours can be in the basement, for now we should have one outside. It will help with smites."

"And conditioning. Still not used to the heat. I may melt out there." She feigned a fainting spell.

Astero chuckled at her. "Then I guess Jacob will be our guide for that. He is used to the heat."

Jacob looked at them, and tilted his head. "Heat? It's not that hot right now. It's actually nice out." He told them honestly. "Summer isn't fun though, it gets too hot to do anything then." He said starting to word vomit.

"Buddy, we were raised where it sometimes snows during the summer. This is hot for us." Magdiana explained calmly not for the first time.

"Just be sure to drink plenty of water, I guess." Jacob said simply. "And go swimming a lot. It will cool you down." He smiled.

Magdiana gave him a fist bump. "Thanks, bro."

The group went outside to train, and, after they had all broken a sweat using the punching bag, Magdiana and Jacob got ready for their jog. "I figured you would shop while we ran. That work?" She asked Astero.

"Yeah, that was my plan." He smiled at her. "You two go for a jog, when you get back i will have food ready for you." He smiled at the two of them.

"Thanks. See you soon." She kissed his cheek.

"See you in a bit." He said kissing her cheek back, and going to walk out of the house.

Magdiana and Jacob took off at a jog, quickly making work of a kilometer before Magdiana asked. "Do you want to keep going?"

Jacob was panting a bit but nodded. "Yeah, I think I can go for a bit longer."

"Alright, we'll start to head back. If you need to walk, just tell me." She told him.

Jacob nodded and looked up to his sister. "Will do." He told her.

While they jogged, Magdiana thought about the past day some more, and she was so distracted by her thoughts that she bumped into somebody on the street. "Oh! Are you okay?" She asked the man.

"I'm fine miss." He told her. "Enjoy the rest of your jog."

Magdiana turned around and easily cause up to Jacob. "Sorry, bud. Didn't mean to fall behind. You okay?"

Jacob nodded. "Yeah, but I think I want to start walking now." He said slowing down a bit.

Magdiana slowed down to a walk. "No problem. You ran for longer than I thought you would."

"Thanks sis." He smiled up at her. "I was pushing myself for you."

"Thanks, Jacob, but you didn't have to." She grabbed his shoulder reassuringly.

"I know, but i wanted to be strong like you and Astero. You two are awesome! You can do so much cool stuff!" he said in awe of his sister.

She smiled. "I'm glad that you think we're so strong. We really have a long way to go, though. You'll get to where we are in no time at all."

"Thanks sis." He smiled, leaning against her. "That means a lot."

"You don't have to thank me. It's true." She told him as they walked up to the front door to the house, unlocking it and letting Jacob in first. She sniffed the air in the house. "That smells delicious, As!"

"Thank you!" Astero called back. "Now come in and sit down. The food is almost ready." He told them, as he finished up the burritos he was working on.

She shooed Jacob to the bathroom to wash his hands, getting three glasses of water and setting the table. "Thanks, As."

"Don't worry about it. I also got alcohol while I was out for later." He told her quietly, setting the plates down on the table.

"Thank you. I don't like to drink much, but damn it all if I don't need a drink right about now." She told him, taking a seat.

"Trust me I know the feeling." He said sitting down, and waiting for jacob to comeback before eating.

"What's taking him so long?" Magdiana asked Astero. "It shouldn't take that long to wash his hands." She stood up and started to walk to the bathroom. "Jacob? You okay?"

Jacob slowly walked out of the bathroom, and looked to Magdiana. "Uh… this is for you." He said handing her a sealed letter.

Magdiana looked at the seal, and saw an 'R' embellished in the wax. "Son of a bitch." She growled, opening it roughly and starting to read silently.

Dear Magdiana,

It simultaneously confounds and frustrates me that you insist on destroying these letters, but I suppose that I can't stop you, now can I? If there's one thing I have learned about you, it's that, once you get something in that head of yours, you'll follow through with it until the end.

I wanted to thank you and Astero for sending Wake out to meet me. Now that I've successfully procured The Raven, let's celebrate. As a family. I'll meet you and Astero in a month's time for dinner at your place.

Now, go ahead and burn this. I know you will.

Congratulations, by the way.

Your brother,

Rivin

"As?!" Magdiana, called out, crumpling the letter in her hands as she ran down to show him.

Astero looked at mag and the letter she handed him. He looked it over quickly, before he crushed the letter into a small ball. He looked up at her, and then to Jacob. He sighed, he knew this was planned. "Eat up Jacob. There is plenty here. I need to go up stairs and take care of something." He said standing up and walking up to the bedroom.

Magdiana looked to Astero, trying to convey without words, 'Should I go with you or stay here?'

He waved a hand at her, letting her know to relax. Just need to update my arsenal." he told her.

Magdiana nodded, sitting down with Jacob and slowly starting to eat. "How's it taste?" She asked conversationally as she watched Astero leave the room, wondering what he was doing.

Jacob smiled as he ate his burrito. "It's delicious!"

Astero walked into the bedroom, and pulled out Wakes sword. He placed it down in front of him, and began to bond with it. He drew runes on the ground in chalk, and began to meticulously get used to the weight and shape of the blade. After an hour, the runes on the ground glowed, and disappeared. Astero put the blade on the bed, and summoned it to his hand. He nodded and put the blade back, walking back down the stairs. "Sorry about that. It took longer than expected." He told them.

Magdiana eyed him. "No, I expect it took as long as it usually does. Now, please eat."

"Yeah, I am hungry." He said digging into his cold burrito, but not really caring.

"Did you figure out what it does exactly?" She asked him. She looked at her own dagger and hummed. "Maybe, should try the same with mine."

"No, was only making sure that it was bound to me was all. I will find out later." He told her.

She gripped the dagger in her hand, and moved to hold it under the table, concentrating on it a bit while Astero ate. "You want to be able to get it back if you know who finds out about it."

"Exactly." Astero told her with a smile. "So jacob did you enjoy my cooking?" he asked her brother.

Jacob lifted his head up off the table and nodded. "Yeah. It was good!" He smiled, clearly tired.

"I did too. You overdid it, but it was delicious. Thank you." She smiled.

"I actually didn't." Astero told her honestly. "The hardest part was cooking the food. The wrapping was easy."

"Alright." She smiled at him. "Jacob, what do you want to do? More training or cards?"

He raised his head, and looked at his sister. "I think a nap would be nice." He told her honestly.

She nodded. "A nap sounds good." She stood up and held out a hand for him. "Come on. We'll get you settled in on the couch."

"Thank you." he nearly mumbled a she followed her to the couch to lay down.

She let him settle in, grabbing a blanket and draping it over him before kissing his forehead. "Sleep well, buddy."

"Thank you." He silently smiled, as he passed out.

Magdiana rubbed his back as he fell asleep, wishing that there was something she could do to protect him better from what would come in the future. She eventually stood up and rejoined Astero at the table. "I'm such a shitty sister. I wish I could protect him."

"No you are not." He said holding her hand. "You are a great sister. You will keep him safe, we will keep him safe." He told her.

"We're the reason he's not safe." She sighed, looking down into her lap. She gestured the dagger she was holding. "I think I'm starting to get something."

"Well don't go into details, but any good?" He asked her

She nodded slowly. "Oh, yeah. Not my wheelhouse, but definitely useful."

"Good." He said finishing his meal and going to wash the plate. "We can train later with them." he said scrubbing the few dishes.

"I definitely want to see what yours does sometime knowing what mine does." She told him, standing up to wash hers and Jacob's plates and glasses. She sighed as she scrubbed them. "I hate dishes."

"I know you do. Which is why I didn't ask you to do these." He told her, moving her to the side. "I will take care of them."

She remained at his side. "You already do so much. Compared to you, I do nothing."

"You do plenty." he turned to face her. "You can do the laundry. I still have some to do." He frowned a bit.

"It's in the hamper, yeah?" She asked.

"Yes. Thank you." he smiled at her, giving her a small kiss on the cheek.

She accepted the kiss and walked towards the stairs. "I'll get it started."

"Thank you." He smiled at her.

She returned a few minutes later. "It's soaking."

"Again, Thank you." He told her finishing the few dishes.

"I always find laundry calming." She told him honestly. "More calming than dishes."

"I find that with dishes, you get rid of the filth in your life by scrubbing it all away." He said sitting down at the table.

She giggled. "There's scrubbing with laundry too, but there's no gross stuck on foodstuff unless someone has a really bad day."

"At least I don't need to deal with cum stains." He chuckled quietly.

She laughed at that. "If that's what you're worried about, then I understand why you don't like laundry."

"Had a roommate, once." he told her honestly. "Never again. Besides you of course." He smiled at her.

"Oh, that's vile. Why the fuck was it… you know what? I'm not finishing that sentence." She made a face.

"My thoughts exactly." He nodded. He sat back in the chair and sighed, looking around the house. "At least I got a great upgrade since then." He said squeezing her hand a bit.

She smiled, moving to sit in his lap. "This is more than I ever imagined I would have. I'm glad that I get to share it with you."

"So am I." He smiled at her, giving her a kiss. "I love you."

"And, I you, my knight." She told him quietly, kissing his forehead. She heard the sound of knocking coming from the front door. "Wow. They were faster than I thought."

"Yeah, they were." He said lifting her off of him, and moving to answer the door. "Hello?" He asked as he opened the door.

"Astero." Eri greeted, looking past him to her daughter. "Mag. How was Jacob?"

Magdiana sighed looking to the boy on the couch. "We had a little excitement earlier, to he honest." Magdiana told her honestly.

"What happened?" Eri said, walking inside and speaking quietly.

Astero closed the door, and looked to Eri. "Rivin left us a note, with Jacob." He said sitting down at the table.

"We were training. It's my fault. I'm sorry." Mag explained quickly.

Eri nodded, looking to the sleeping boy. "It's fine, and it's not your fault. It's Rivin's."

"Sorry." Astero told her. "He is my sibling." He sighed.

Eri held out a hand, grabbing Astero's. "Blood isn't everything. That much, I can tell." She told him.

"I know, but I still feel the need to apologize. He tore your family apart." He said sadly. "I'm sorry that it happened."

She patted his hand. "Stop apologizing. You brought her back to us, unlike your relative."

"Thank you." He said hugging her.

"Mom?" Magdiana asked Eri.

"Yes?" She replied to her daughter.

Magdiana looked to Astero for a moment. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?"

Eri nodded. "Yes of course. Is everything alright?" She asked as they went into a different room.

Magdiana hugged her mother tightly to her, silently and tearlessly sobbing. "No." She murmured quietly.

"What's wrong?" She asked a little hesitantly.

"I met The King yesterday." She told her quietly, not pulling away from the hug. "Astero asked if he wanted us to offer to help him. The King told him that his parents wanted him to live a long happy life."

Eri rubbed her back, and sniffled a bit. "And what did he say about you?" She asked nervously.

"I knew what he meant by that. I couldn't ask, so he just nodded." She explained.

"Does Astero know?" She asked her, trying to be calm.

"No. I couldn't tell him. I think he'd lose it." She whispered, breathing slowly and methodically. "I won't tell him no Mom."

She closed her eyes, processing what she heard. "So you would rather just disappear one day, than tell him?" She asked her.

She shook her head. "I just can't tell him so soon after Wake. He was like family."

Eri nodded, holding Mag close to her. "Please just don't wait too long." She said looking at Mag.

"With my track record, I'll word vomit it next time I get flustered." She laughed, pausing only for a moment. "Will you marry us? Please?"

She took a step back from Magdiana. "This soon?" She asked seriously.

"I mean… not today, but… I just want to make the most of what I've got." Magdiana sniffed, eyes starting to water.

Eri grabbed Mags cheeks, and kissed her forehead. "Of course I will. I would be honored." She sniffled. "Just name the day."

"I have no idea." Magdiana said honestly.

Eri chuckled. "Then just give me a few days heads up. Okay?" She asked wiping a tear from mags eye.

"Okay." Magdiana nodded. "Can you… tell Dad? I don't think I can do it again."

She nodded. "Yes I can. But he will want to talk to you about it." She said honestly. "Hells i want to talk more about it. But it is neither the time or the place." She sighed deeply, trying her best to not cry.

"We'll talk… soon. I'm… still processing myself." She said honestly, swiping hair out of her face.

"Okay." She nodded, giving Mag a big hug. She stood up straight, and looked to her. "Anything else?" She asked seriously.

"Nothing else. I just wanted someone to talk to, Mom. It's been the scariest day of my life." She sighed, slumping over a bit.

"You can always talk to me, Mag." She told her seriously. "About anything at all."

Magdiana looked at her mother for a long moment. "Thank you. I have no other deep revelations today. But, maybe, tomorrow. Seems like normal for me lately."

Eri chuckled. "Then let's not keep your fiance waiting. He might start asking questions."

"I'm not going to get used to that word. Boyfriend is still surreal." She laughed, rejoining Astero in the living room. "Hey." She said anticlimactically.

"Hey. everything go alright?" He asked the ladies.

"Yeah. Uh, Mom agreed to marry us. We just have to choose the when." Magdiana smiled softly.

"Thank you." Astero said to Eri.

Eri pulled Astero into a hug. "You're welcome, son." She told him in a voice as firm as the hug.

Astero paused at her words, before relaxing into the hug. He stayed there for a moment, before he pulled away. "Thank you, it has been far too long since I heard that."

"Welcome to the family." Eri told him, pulling away and looking to the still sleeping Jacob.

"Sorry about that. The burritos were good." Astero chuckled, looking at Jacob.

Magdiana chuckled beside him. "He ate like four."

"He'll be out like a light for the night." Eri laughed. "And, lucky Mom gets to carry him."

"At least he will be quiet for the rest of the day." Astero said in a happy tone.

"Yes, it will be nice to have some time with Marius tonight." Eri nodded, looking to Magdiana and then Astero. She leaned over and picked up Jacob without much hesitation before heading out the door. "Goodnight, you two."

"Goodnight." Astero smiled at her.

"Night." Mag sighed, locking the door behind her mother and leaning against it before sliding to the ground. "Why was that so hard?"

He sat on the ground in front of her, holding her hands. "We have had a long shitty few days. Everything seems harder." He said honestly.

"I almost wish we could be back in Yutan. It was boring there. I'd kill for boring right now." Magdiana sighed.

"If you want, I could angrily glare at you from a distance while you stare at me longingly." He told her. "If that would help you feel better." He offered.

"No, no. I'm happy with what we have. I'm just… a mess, As." She told him, looking into his eyes and wondering if she should just tell him the truth. "I love you."

"I love you." he said giving her a small kiss. "Let's get you a shower then. It will make you less messy." He smiled standing up and offering her his hand.

She took his hands and stood. "Two things first." She held up to fingers and ticked them off as she spoke. "One, laundry. Two, alcohol."

Astero smiled, and nodded. "You go get the laundry, I will get the alcohol." He said kissing her cheek.

Magdiana smiled before walking off to deal with their clothes before returning to the kitchen. "They are hanging to dry." She announced.

He poured the drinks and handed her a glass. "And alcohol." He told her.

"Thank you." She told him, taking the glass and idly playing with it before taking a drink. "That's strong." She suddenly hiccuped.

"I figured you would want strong." He told her honestly.

"I do." She took a seat next to him, leaning into him. "Astero?" She asked him softly.

"Yes?" He asked, brushing her hair.

She sighed. "I don't want to lie to you." She took a drink.

"Lie to me?" he said looking at her curiously. "What about?"

"Something happened yesterday." She sighed. "With The King. I didn't want to tell you."

Astero thought the conversation over from the over day in his head, and shook his head a bit. "I don't remember anything. What are you talking about?"

"You… asked The King if he wanted us as offerings." She told him, taking another drink.

"Yeah, and he said he didn't want us." He told her.

"He said your parents wanted you to have a long and happy life." She countered.

He tried to remember the conversation clearer. He looked at her oddly. "No…" He trailed off.

"Yeah." She winced, drinking again.

He moved away a bit from her and leaned his head into his hands. "Just say no." He said looking at her seriously.

"I won't." She told him honestly.

"Why not?" He said almost pleadingly. "There are probably hundreds of others who he can choose from. You don't have to be the first pick."

She sighed, looking down into her glass, but into his eyes when she spoke. "I know that, but, if he asks, I won't say no. Because I'm not selfish enough to think that my life is more important than the whole world. And, As… I'm not angry."

He looked at her, and hung his head. Staying quiet for a long moment. "I'm not angry either… I'm disappointed." He told her honestly, with tears in his eyes. "I understand, wanting to protect the world… I do… but I don't want to lose you." he told her. "Because a world without you in it, isn't a world worth protecting."

"As…" She had tears in her eyes now. Her hand reached out to his rubbing the back of it gently. "If you were handed a death sentence, how would you feel? Honestly?"

"It's not a death sentence. It's a choice." he told her, moving his hand from her. "You have a choice in this. You don't have to die!" He said, with a breaking voice.

"Astero." Her voice wavered. "Please, just answer the question."

"I would fight it." He told her honestly. "There isn't always option A, or option B. We choose what we want in this world."

She nodded. "Okay." Her hand remained near his to hold if necessary. "And, what if, my choice is to make sure this world is safe for you to live in it? What if my choice is… to watch over you. Defend you. Like I've always done. Just, in a different way?"

He looked at her seriously and fought back tears. "Then I think you have given up on living." He said standing up, and going to the door.

"Astero, please don't leave." She begged him, standing up and following after him. "Please, I need you to understand. I'm not giving up on anything. I just…"

"You don't know what you want." He told her honestly. "I know what I want, and I know you." he told her. "I will be back, I just… need time." He said opening the door.

Magdiana's lips pursed, and her bottom lip quivered. "Okay." She mumbled quietly resigned, letting him leave.

Astero nodded, and shut the door behind him as he left, He walked for a few minutes before he began to run as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn't know where, he just needed to get away.

Magdiana sighed, finishing her liquor and finding parchment and quill, writing a lengthy note before she decided that it was good enough, leaving it on the puzzle in the living room before folding their laundry and falling asleep on the basement couch. She didn't deserve to be in their bed at the moment. Her sleep was fitful until she could clearly hear Astero's return upstairs.

Astero ran for well over an hour, until his legs nearly gave out from under him. He leaned against a tree and sobbed, wishing the conversation he had never happened. He cursed himself for not being a wizard like his mother, and cried harder missing her as well. He wanted to tell The King to undo what he had said, or done. He now had some idea of what Rivin might had gone through when his parents left. Did he know they would be gone, did he try and fight it? Astero pulled out the note Rivin wrote mag and looked at it intently, trying to find any clue to why Mag would want to do this. He hung his head when he knew there were no answers. "Why is this my life? Why do the people around me keep dying?" He asked out loud.

Rivin walked up next to Astero and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It isn't your fault. It never was." He told Astero reassuringly.


	13. Squeeze

Astero nearly jumped at the touch. He looked up sadly at his brother, he was angry at him, but he didn't have the strength to fight him at the moment. "Why are you here Rivin?" he asked him seriously. "Or is this just another part of your grand plan?"

Rivin looked down at his younger brother. "I like to keep an eye out on my little brother." He said honestly. "I heard bits of your argument. I know what you're going through."

"Of course you were listening." Astero sighed, leaning against the tree more. "Is this the reason why you wanted to stop The King? The feeling I am having right now?" He asked Rivin seriously.

"Yeah." He sighed. "It was hard finding out. I wanted to stop them, they should have been around to see you grow up." He said looking to Astero.

Astero sniffled a bit, and nodded. "It would have been nice."

Rivin sat down next to Astero, leaning against the tree as well. "Yeah, they would be proud of you. You are strong." He said placing a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently.

Astero felt his hand on his shoulder, it felt nice, but wrong. It felt like there was no real meaning behind the gesture. "Did… did you know that this would happen between Mag and myself?" He asked him seriously. "Is that why you tried to push us apart?"

"Yes, and no." He told him honestly. "I knew there was a chance that she could get chosen, but I never thought you two would get romantically involved. I just wanted to make sure that you had someone who could challenge you." Rivin said with a slight chuckle.

"Well you succeeded." Astero told him with a small smile. "She could kick my ass any day of the week."

"I know." Rivin chuckled. "I was watching, always watching. Mom and dad wanted me to watch over you, and take care of you. So I did so… from a distance." He sighed a bit. "What I was doing, was too dangerous to drag you into. You needed to be older."

"I didn't even knew you existed, until about a month ago." Astero quipped back. "You could have been there! I was alone for so long…" He said with tears in his eyes.

"I know, but I couldn't show myself. It would have ruined everything. I need to get The King back for what he did to us." Rivin told him resolutely.

Astero cried for a moment, and wiped away the tears before breathing in deeply. "I am glad your plan, has worked out so far." He told him. "I wish you the best of luck." He said getting up.

Rivin helped him up and dusted him off. "You could always help me if you wanted." He offered him. "The Vosson name could be known around the world." He said outstretching a hand.

Astero grabbed his hand. "Goodnight Rivin. We will see you at lunch in a months time." He said simply. "Not that we have much of a choice." He sighed.

Rivin nodded. "See you then." He said pulling him in for a brief hug. "Have a good night." He said pulling away and disappearing into the night.

Astero watched as Rivin disappeared into darkness, he waited a few minutes before he frowned, and felt angry. Throughout that whole conversation, not once did Rivin say sorry. He didn't care about him, he was only in it for himself. Astero clenched a fist and tossed the letter to the ground before setting it ablaze with a Firebolt. He watched the note burn, and began to walk back to the house. He still wasn't sure what to say to Mag, he wasn't even sure if she would be there. He knew he loved her, and would do anything for her. Even so this was asking a lot. He didn't know how long it would be before she… left. And he really didn't want to think about it. He just knew that Mag was better than Rivin right now. So he made his way home.

When he arrived in the house, he saw that the house was dark. He sighed a bit, and walked to the room. He paused when he saw a note on top of the puzzle, it wasn't sealed, so he knew it wasn't Rivin. He sat down on the couch, and read it.

My Knight,

Astero, I am not good with words, especially when I am stressed or under pressure. Let me lead by telling you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. For never realizing you didn't celebrate birthdays growing up without a family, I'm sorry for falling in love with you when it was clear that you had no interest. I'm sorry for so quickly coming to the conclusion that this has to be me.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you. I love you. I love your scent, I love the way you look after a fight, I love the way you always remember the spell without me having to ask. I love that we can sense the other's thoughts by movement alone. Astero, this isn't about me leaving you. This is so much more.

This is about the world. So that other children don't have to go without birthday cakes. So that other stupid girls can fall madly in love with men like you. So that others can live, and, Astero, most of all, I want you to live.

You deserve happiness. You deserve a woman who will help you with dishes, and eat your breakfasts. You deserve this house to be filled with the sounds of happiness and children's laughter. You deserve a woman who doesn't wake up with the urge to stab the nearest warm body every morning, a woman who can savor every iota of flavor you pack into each loving meal. You deserve the chance to have a real family.

I just ask that you help me. I know that this is hard. It's hard for me too, Astero. I'm scared. Terrified. If you think that I want to die, you're wrong. I know you might be angry or upset, but I hope you'll help me instead of trying to stop me. Help me make the most of whatever time we have. Let me show you my love so that it can help us get through the tough times ahead. Please don't shut me out.

Earlier, I said I wasn't angry. I'm not. I never was angry at you, but I think you misunderstood. What I meant was I'm not angry at The King. In essence, he asked me to die, and I can honestly say that I'm not angry. Who else, in my position could say the same? He needs me to do this for him because I am obviously the best choice. It might be morbid, but it is the truth. I hate to ask this of you, Astero. It's tearing me up to put you through this again, but, As… you will have to let me go.

You asked me about choices today. And, now, it's my turn to ask. What will you choose? Will you be like your brother and tear us apart or will you be the man that I fell in love with and let us be together and happy while we can? When you're ready, I'm downstairs on the couch. I didn't feel that I deserved our bed after everything I've put you through. Sleep well, love.

Until the end.

Your queen,

Magdiana Rothenel

Astero read the letter and was in tears again. He carefully folded the letter up, and held it to his chest. He looked towards the basement and sighed. He wasn't sure if he could talk to her, but he knew he had to. So he slowly made his way down to the basement, and sat down on the couch, sitting at the other end. "Hey Mag." He sniffled.

"Yeah?" She asked, clearly having been crying from the sounds of her voice.

He looked at her with red eyes. "I read your letter." He told her, not really sure where he was going with the conversation.

She sat up and pulled him into her arms. "Oh, As." She sighed. "We don't have to talk about it now. You look so exhausted."

He held her tightly, the feeling of her made him feel better. He looked up at her and shook his head. "No, I want to. I need to." He told her honestly.

She pulled away, placing a hand on his cheek. "Okay." She said quietly. "I'm sorry." She started.

"No." He said shaking his head. "I'm sorry for running away like I did." He told her. "You are dealing with this just like I am, but in different ways." He held her hands. "Sorry."

"I'm scared, Astero." She whispered to him, giving him a soft kiss as her thumb rubbed his cheek soothingly.

He leaned his head into her hand. "I am too." He said looking into her eyes. "I am scared of what I will do without you." He said leaning his head on hers. "I have never been scared of the future until now." He whispered to her.

"I know you, Astero, and I know that you will be okay. You always have been. Always will be. You're so strong. Stronger than you'll ever know." She whispered.

He nodded. "I know, but I won't be as strong without you. You were the one who made get stronger in the first place. The one who made me want to get stronger." He said with a hug.

"I'm still here now, and you still need to be stronger. You have to be. We need to stop Rivin." She told him. "He's trying to endanger what I'm trying to fix."

"I know. I talked to him." He sighed deeply as he said that.

"You… did?" She asked, baffled.

He nodded. "He followed me to where i ran, and sat down next to me. Trying to comfort me." He told her honestly. "He didn't mean any of it."

She held him close and possessively whispered. "I wish I could heal this away for you."

He shook his head a bit. "No, it just solidified what I already knew. And confirmed what The King told us." He said looking at her. "He is not as smart as he seems."

"I still want to fix it, but I don't know how I can." She sighed. "You are my family. Just hear that and know that I mean it."

"I know. You are my family, too." He said holding her closer to him. "You being here next to me is good enough." He said, breathing in her scent, relaxing as he did so.

She held him for a long time before she finally spoke. "You'll still marry me?" She asked quietly.

He nodded and looked at her. "Of course I will…" he said trailing off before running up to the bedroom. He came down a few minutes later, and knelt down in front of her. "It's not how I planned it, but i might as well make it official." He said taking out the small box Eri gave him. "Magdiana Rothennel, will you marry me?" He asked her, opening up the box to reveal the ring inside of it.

She smiled a teary smile. "I didn't think you'd have a ring so soon. And, yes, of course, I will."

He smiled and hugged her. He put the ring on her finger and looked at her. "It was your mom who gave me the ring." He told her honestly.

She facepalmed. "Of course, she did."

"She said it was her moms." He smiled at her. "Your mom really does like me."

"This… was my grandmother's ring?" She asked, looking at it. "She was the original Magdiana."

"Then it only makes sense you have it." He smiled at her giving her a hug.

She hugged him back. "Thank you, Astero."

"You're welcome Magdiana." He whispered to her.

"Can we sleep, please? Work is going to suck in the morning." She asked with a slump to her shoulders.

"Yeah." he nodded. "I was almost tempted to take tomorrow off. Fuck this weekend." He sighed.

"I want to as well, but I work from home now anyway. It's not like I can ignore it." She laughed, looking towards the door to her lab.

"Your right… tomorrow is going to suck." He sighed deeper now, standing up. "Let's go to bed."

She stood next to him, holding his hand and slowly walking upstairs. She looked at the table where she'd left the note, and smiled softly. "Not going to lie… I expected ashes and burnt parchment."

He shook his head softly at her. "No, I'm keeping that one." He told her quietly. "To keep me going." He smiled at her.

She gripped his hand tighter. "I'll do everything that I can to make this as easy as possible, but I know that it won't be easy."

He shook his head. "No it won't be." He said gripping her hand in kind. "But let's worry about that tomorrow. I am exhausted." He yawned.

She nodded, methodically disrobing and laying down in bed her arms open for him. "Get over here and cuddle me… fiance." She cringed. "Nope… too weird."

He chuckled and disrobed, laying down next to her. He pulled her close to him. "It will be wife soon." He chuckled, as he closed his eyes.

"Yeah. We just have to choose the day." She hummed, eyes growing heavy as she listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeats.

"Soon." He said quietly. "Love you."

Her snores filled the room now. For once, she didn't dream or, at least, didn't remember her dreams. When she awoke at dawn the next morning, Astero was still soundly asleep. She smiled at his form, and carefully padded downstairs to make him a breakfast for once. He would wake soon enough.

Astero awoke, and was confused to not see Magdiana. He looked around the room, before the smell of breakfast hit him. He walked downstairs and to the kitchen, he leaned against the entrance. "Well this is new." He smiled at her.

"It's about time you ate my impressive cooking." She said, plating the eggs for them and walking to the table with their meals. "Bacon, eggs, and toast. Gourmet at it's finest." She laughed.

"The breakfast of champions." He laughed back, sitting down and taking a big bite. He tasted the food, it was good. "I like it." He told her honestly.

"It's nothing like what you make, but it's edible." She smiled. "Well, until it's not. Tried to make cinnamon rolls once. Never again."

"That sounds hilarious." He laughed. He took a few more bites before he looked at the clock, he sighed a bit seeing the time. "I need to go get ready for work. Thank you. It was a nice treat." He said kissing her cheek.

"You're welcome." She smiled. "I'm going to go do my jog and whatnot now, so I'll probably be in the basement when you get home."

He nodded. "Sounds good. If i don't see you up here, I will come say hi." He smiled at her, before going to go get dressed.

"Beware of fumes." She giggled. "I'm making aquitoxin today."

"I will make sure to wear a mask." He chuckled.

She kissed him as she moved to clean up the dishes, making quick work of the aggravating task so that she was done by the time he was coming downstairs. "Have a good day." She smiled.

"Thank you." He smiled into the kiss. "I love you." He told her.

"Love you." She told him, going upstairs to get into workout gear and jogging to her parent's house. She was panting when she got to the door, knocking a few times before waiting.

Eri opened the door, and hugged mag when she saw her. "Good morning, this is a pleasant surprise."

"Yeah, I start my work from home job today, so I can kind of set my own schedule." She smiled at her mother. "Did Jacob go to school today?"

"Yeah he did." She told her honestly. "Please come in." She said holding the door open for her.

"Did Dad go to work, too, or did he stay home?" Magdiana asked. "I kind of figured that we'd need to talk."

Eri nodded. "He went to work. He said it would help him think everything over." She sighed. "Don't worry your dad will be fine, he just needs some time."

Magdiana hugged her mother. "Okay." She whispered, letting go and walking to the table. "Um, I learned a new spell? During all of the crazy."

Eri sat down next to her daughter. "Oh? And what was it like?" She asked her curiously.

"I helped Raze calm down after she found out about Wake." Magdiana shrugged.

"Oh! You cast Calm Emotions." Eri said knowing the spell well. "It helped many times when Jacob was scared." She laughed a bit.

"It felt more powerful than the other spells I could cast, but I don't know why." Magdiana tried to explain.

"That would make sense. It is a higher tier spell than what you are used to." Eri nodded.

"Wait… so, I'm a better cleric now?" She sounded a bit excited. "Should I be able to cast restoration spells now?"

Eri smiled at her. "Yes, you should be able to cast Lesser Restoration now." She told her. "Greater Restoration will be a ways away."

"Ha! I know what we're having for dinner now. Astero will be stoked." Magdiana enthused.

Eri raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would you need Lesser Restoration… for dinner?" She asked a little nervously.

Magdiana blushed. "Astero likes peanut butter sandwiches, but he's got a bit of an allergy to peanuts."

Eri laughed, a bit. "Oh… that's adorable." She said placing a hand on hers.

"Yeah, he'd really love to eat one sometime without having all of the repercussions." She replied, still blushing, but slightly less now. "Uh, Mom?"

"Yes dear?" She asked her with a smile.

"Can… can you please contact The King for me? Tell him…" She paused, looking up at the ceiling. Tears glistened in her eyes, but didn't fall. "I have questions."

Eri paused, but nodded. "Yes, I can, just give me a few minutes. Okay?" She asked her.

Magdiana nodded. "Yeah. I don't need answers right away. It's fine."

"It's okay, I don't mind." She smiled at her, turning a bit and writing glyphs into the air, before sending them off into the ether. "Okay, I told him, but it might be a bit before…" Eri pausd as she received a message, and looked to Mag intently. "He says he will be here shortly." She said a bit confused.

Magdiana put her face into her hands. "I didn't need a response right away." She groaned.

"I said that." She replied, sighing as she spoke.

"It's fine." Magdiana whispered, standing up and going to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "Do you need anything while I'm in here?"

Eri shook her head. "No, just wished I cleaned better." She said looking around the house a bit, and making a face. "Of course Jacob left his socks there." She sighed.

Magdiana laughed, taking a sip from the glass and taking a deep breath before meeting her mother at the dining table. "I am fairly certain that, in his time, he has seen a lot worse, Mom."

"Yes, but I don't like showing off a dirty house." She sighed, before looking into the direction of the living room. "He is here."

Magdiana stood up, slowly walking into the living room. She looked around, not seeing anything yet, so she just waited for him to show himself.

A second later a portal opened up next to Magdiana, and out walked The King. the air got cold again, and The king looked to her. "Hello, Magdiana. I hear you have some questions for me?" he asked her curiously, the portal shut behind him.

Magdiana looked to Eri. "Mom, would you mind if-?"

Eri nodded. "Not at all, I will be outside if you need me." She said standing up, and going out the back door.

Magdiana sighed heavily as her mother walked out, methodically walking to the dining room table. "Can we sit, please?"

"Of course." The king nodded following her to the table, and sitting when she did.

Magdiana noted the sign of respect normally given to royalty, and smiled a bit wanly. "Thank you." She told him looking into where his eyes should be. "I'm not going to tell you no."

He nodded at her. "That is good to know, but you will always have the option." He told her truthfully. "In the end the choice is yours to make."

"My decision is already made, but I need to know some things." She told him in a determined fashion.

"Ask away." he said, waving his hand motioning to emphasize that he isn't hiding anything.

Magdiana fiddled with the ring on her finger. "What sort of timeline am I looking at here? Weeks, months, years? I just don't want to make plans that I can't follow through on."

The thought for a moment. "Closer to decades." he told her calmly. "it will not be soon. There will still be time for you to have a life."

She nodded, breathing a shuddering sigh of relief. "So, I have time. To… have a family."

He nodded, placing his hand on hers, it actually felt warm to her. "Yes. it is my job to protect life, not hinder it. You can have a family, or any other plans. I will let you know well in advance before anything happens." He told her reassuringly.

"I assume that this happens in the frozen wasteland?" She laughed a bit at her own joke. "Like, I'll get used to the warm and, one day, have to go back?"

He laughed a bit and nodded. "Yes, it will be in my castle."

"Do I get there on my own or do I get to go in style with the magicky bullshit?" She asked.

The king laughed. "You will be escorted there, either by Gate, or by ship. That choice is up to you, some have chosen to make their own way. So what you want to do, we can figure out at a later date. You don't need to decide now." he said calmingly.

She nodded. Her lips pursed, and eyes watered. "I don't want to be alone. Can I bring someone?"

"If that is what you want. Yes." He told her.

"It's… fast, right?" She asked, sounding braver than she felt.

"Yes, instantaneous." He said calmly. "You won't feel anything."

She thought for a minute before gulping. "How long will I give you?"

"That is hard to say." He told her honestly. "The time varies per person, but around 50 years, give or take."

She nodded again, slower this time. "You'll keep my family safe?"

"Until I can no longer do so." He told affirmatively.

"Do you know… Do I go to the hells for this? Or is this a Mask thing?" She asked, feeling completely confused.

The king hummed. This was a hard question for him to answer. "I don't think you go to the hells." He said calmly. "But I know that after some time the person does leave me. So I think they go to their afterlife."

"Thank you." She told him quietly.

"Your welcome." he replied in kind, letting the silence fill the room for a moment.

"I can contact you if I have any other questions?" She asked.

"Of course. It might not be in person, but I will reply to you." He nodded.

She nodded. "You don't have to reply so fast, either, you know."

The king chuckled. "I like to be punctual." He told her honestly. "It is just common courtesy."

"I would say that chivalry is dead, but I'm not wrong." She laughed.

"True." He laughed. "it keeps me feeling human is all." He told her honestly. "It's the little things."

"Were you? Human, that is." She asked.

"A very long time ago, yes." He nodded.

"And, from the magicky woo woo, I assume… wizard?" She guessed.

He chuckled. "That is a very complicated answer, but in short. No." He said turning his head to give a small smile.

She smiled at his answer. "Alright. Well, I'll save the rest of the small talk for tea and scones next time."

"That sound good." He said standing up. "I do need to be heading back soon anyway. Things to do, people to see." He whistled.

Magdiana stood up and shook his hand. "Oh, I almost forgot. You know who is coming to dinner a month from yesterday."

"Let me guess. Rivin." He said shaking her hand in kind.

"Yes, he'll be at our house." She told him. "He's been scrying on us again."

The king thought to himself for a moment, and looked to Magdiana. "Wait just a little longer, and I will have something for that." He said with a nod.

"He'll probably think it's suspicious if he suddenly can't see us anymore." She reasoned. "We're just being careful with what we say."

"Good, keep it up." He told her. "And it will be after your dinner party. We are getting nearer to the end of all of this mess. He will be taken off guard, and start grasping at straws when things start going against him."

"For now, we just have to let him think he has the upper hand." She surmised. "He's got all the chips on his side after all." She said with mock innocence.

"And a very powerful ship at his disposal." He said a bit sarcastically. "He will make a mistake soon enough."

"I'll see you in a month's time, then." She told him. "Thank you for answering my questions."

"You are very welcome." He said with a small bow. "See you then, do tell your mother I sent her my regards." He said turning and casting a spell to open another similar portal and stepping through it, and disappearing into the ether.

Magdiana sighed, gathering her wits before stepping outside. "The King sends his regards." She quietly told Eri, enjoying the warmth after The King's chilling presence.

Eri smiled at her. "Good. did everything go well?" She asked her seriously.

"Yes, thank you. Got some things cleared up." She mumbled.

"I'm glad." Eri smiled at her, before moving to give her a hug. "I love you." She told her honestly.

"I love you, Mom." She responded in kind, holding the woman close. "Um, anyway, I've got to get working soon, but I'll be back for actual cleric training tomorrow."

Eri nodded, and pulled away. "Okay, I will see you then." She smiled at her.

"Later." Magdiana waved, starting to jog home. She was feeling much lighter, knowing that she had more time than she thought previously. She got to work, and lost herself in her craft, not paying attention to anything besides the ingredients and processes of the ever predictable chemistry she was doing.

Asteros day was long and boring. He went through the motions of work, without actually being there. His mind was focused on other things, the loss of Wake, the conversation with Rivin, and the new knowledge he learned about Magdiana. He knew it was a lot to take in, and was glad when he was finished with the day. He took his time going home, just processing the time he had with Mag. He didn't know how much time they had, but he did want to make the most of it. When he walked into the house, he was shocked by an odd yet familiar smell. "Peanut butter?" he asked out loud. "Mag?" He called out.

Magdiana popped her head around the corner from the kitchen. "Yeah! Apparently, I should be able to cast Lesser Restoration now, so PB&J's are for dinner!"

Asteros eyes went wide. "I get to have a PB&J!" He said running up and hugging her tightly. "I love you!" He said kissing her.

She smiled and giggled into him. "I love you too, but, first. Which type of J? I'm more of the strawberry jam type, but we also have grape jelly."

"I don't care, I get to eat one either way." He smiled at her.

"Half and half it is." She giggled. "Can you set the table?"

"Of course I can." He said, moving to get the table ready.

"How was your day?" She asked, looking him over as she carefully cut the sandwiches into triangles.

"Pretty boring actually." he said placing the napkins. "A lot of salads oddly enough." He shrugged.

"Did rabbitfolk start to patronize your shop?" She joked. "I had a busy day, but very productive."

"No I didn't have any rabbit folk come in." he chuckled at her. "Did you get your order all filled out?" He asked her conversationally.

She placed a plate in front of him with a smile. It had three sandwiches on it. "I did. Went pretty quick thanks to the three workstations. I didn't even get started until just before midday."

"Wow! You will be pumping them out at a rapid pace then." He said eyeing the sandwiches, licking his lips as he did so.

"Go ham. Do try to breathe between bites, though." She laughed at his voraciousness.

"I plan on it. Just trying to decide which one." He said looking them over before settling on one. He lifted the sandwich to his mouth and took a bite, slowly chewing ai and enjoying it as he did so. He quickly sped up hi eating though, he didn't want mag to run out of spells. And in short order demolished the sandwiches. "That was nice. Thank you." He said with a slight cough.

She smiled, kissing his cheek, "You're very welcome." She frowned when she heard his breaths. "Oh, I don't like that."

"Yeah… it happens quick." He said carefully breathing.

She placed a hand on his arm and concentrated for a minute, wanting to make him feel better. A minute later, she felt magic flow into him. "Did it work?" She asked. "Do you feel better?"

Astero felt his breathing become easier. And the itchy sensation he was beginning to feel quickly subside. The let out a sigh of relief, he smiled and kissed her. "Yes, thank you."

"Good." She nodded, hugging him a bit from her seat. "As?"

"Yes?" He asked her with a smile.

"When I was at my parent's place earlier, I spoke to The King. I just want you to know… we've got time." She said calmly.

He nodded at her. "Any idea how much?" He asked holding her hand.

"The word he used was decades." She replied with a small smirk.

He let out a sigh of relief, knowing he had more time with her. "Thank the gods." He smiled back at her.

Her hand squeezed his. "We can have a family." She blushed.

"That would be nice." He smiled back. "But not right now." He said affirmatively. "Not ready to handle that right now." He said honestly.

"Oh, definitely not yet." She made a face, blushing a darker shade of red. "I can't train if I'm big and pregnant."

He smirked at her. "You would still find a way. But until then, I will be casting the spell every time we have sex." He said honestly. "Not taking any chances."

"I can't work like that either, so business will have to be very good on your end for awhile." She told him honestly.

"Hopefully by then the store will get bigger." He told her. "It's not big enough to do that yet."

"We might need a bigger house." She commented with a laugh.

He sighed a bit. "We will worry about that later, let's just get this one payed off first." He smiled at her.

She giggled at him. "That shouldn't be a problem. We're adventurers"

He leaned in and kissed her. "We need to go adventuring then."

"When you have the weekend off, we'll go to the guild and clear their board of all the good jobs." She offered.

"And drain them of their gold in the process." He laughed.

"Honestly, as nice as the gold is, I'm more concerned about us getting stronger." She told him honestly.

He nodded. Yeah, we are going to need to get stronger if we are going to take care of rivin." He sighed a bit, before looking at her. "But we can do it." He smiled.

She got into a boxing pose, going in for a couple of quick jabs. "Don't worry. I'll be a fighter like you by then."

He smiled and quickly grabbed her hands. "Not with that pose." He joked at her, kissing her cheek.

"It will be much more intimidating with daggers in hand." She defended.

"Oh, I am betting on it." He smiled at her. "Two fancy daggers and a drive to kill. Yup, that is terrifying."

She kissed his cheek. "Have you done your training for the day? I only had time for my jog."

He shook his head. "No I didn't have time. Want to train with me?" He asked, figuring she wanted to.

"Yes, please." She smiled. "We need to stay sharp."

He nodded and stood up. "Then, let me go quickly change." He said giving her a small kiss, before going to the bedroom.

Magdiana quickly did the dishes while he was upstairs. Thankfully, there weren't many since it was only sandwiches. When Astero came back down, he looked much more comfortable. "Did you ever figure out what your new toy does?"

He shook his head. "No, didn't really have time to today." He frowned slightly. "I will find out soon enough." He told her.

"I wish we could talk about it." She told him, looking to the chimney. "Inside or outside?"

"Inside, it was a bit muggy outside." He told her, walking to the chimney.

"I was hoping you would say that. I might die of heat stroke." She commented, starting to walk downstairs.

"Not on my watch." He told her, closing the door behind them. "So which room would be best?" he asked her, not really knowing the best room for this.

She brought him into the main basement room. "I was thinking that if we moved the furniture in here that there should be plenty of space for everything short of Firebolts."

He looked around and nodded. "Okay, let's do that then." He said going to move the couch to a wall.

Magdiana joined him, pushing a table against the same wall. When she finished moving it, she stole a kiss. "Whoops. I fell." She commented.

"At least we know gravity works then." He chuckled, moving the desk to a more reasonable location.

She rolled up the rug and pushed it into the former armory. "Neither of us will be tripping on this."

"Good. I don't want a broken arm." He told her honestly. "That shit hurts."

"I am pretty sure that cure wounds doesn't fix that." She paused, thinking about it. "Does it?"

He thought it over. "No I don't think it does." He frowned. "We will be careful." He told her.

"My mom will help if need be, I'm is much more powerful as far as the cleric stuff goes." She smiled, taking out her daggers. "How are we doing this? Weapons? No weapons? Magic?"

Astero cracked his knuckles. "No weapons. If you are going to be a fighter, everything must be a weapon, including you hands." He told her.

She nodded, starting to disarm herself. "That's fine. Let me just remove temptation."

He watched her remove the daggers and readied himself when she done. "Ready?" He asked getting into pose.

She cracked her neck and stretched a bit. "This feels weird, but yeah. I'm ready."

"Good." He said, running at her at throwing a few jabs at her to keep her on her toes. "You will get used to it quickly." He told her, as he grabbed one of her arms and spun her around.

She dodged out of the way of the first punch, but the other two hit home. It knocked the wind out of her, and, the next thing she knew, she was facing the opposite direction. Her gut instinct told her to square her hips and prepare to counter. She took a breath and waited for his move. She was good at tossing him around, after all.

He quickly closed the gap from behind her, and was going to put her into a choke hold, until he felt her arms grab his. Her leg lifted between his as she moved forward, and flipped him over her. He grunted for a moment as he laid on his back, before he spun around and made a swipe at her legs.

Magdiana jumped over his kick. "You're fast." She commented, trying to retaliate with a kick of her own. She needed to at least try to put up an offensive even if she was mostly on defense at the moment.

He felt her kick, and was glad she didn't have as much power behind it. He quickly got to his feet, and readied himself for her attack. "Thank you, now show me what you got." He said waving his fingers over to her.

She punched him as hard as she could in the chest with her right hand, and went in for a second strike with her left. She was just wishing she could add a little bit more oomph to the hit when, suddenly, a magical glowing dagger about the size of a person appeared behind him. "What the fuck?" She asked as it moved to strike him with a resounding thunk.

Her punched didn't do much, but the strike from behind left him reeling. It wasn't a hard hit, but he wasn't expecting it. He moved to see the spiritual weapon and looked to Mag. "Okay. I guess we are doing it this way then." He said as he leapt back, and a flurry of snowballs pelted her where she stood.

"Son of a bitch!" She yelled at him, suddenly shivering. "I am not wearing the clothes for that." She commanded her weapon to hit him again before she went in for a jab with her left like she would normally do with a dagger.

He saw the attack coming for the weapon and cast shield. He smiled, and regretted it a bit as she got him in the side. He sighed, and moved to grapple her, her punches were getting annoying. "Then stop with the big dagger." He threatened.

She tried to make the magical weapon disappear, but it wouldn't "Uh, I can't, apparently." She told him, trying to snake out of his grip. Her magical weapon went in for a strike, but it didn't do anything to him. It just kind of nudged him.

"Alright then." He told her, lifting up her shirt and casting the same spell, to pelt her stomach. "I did warn you." He told her, keeping his hold on her tight.

"Ah!" She shrieked, trying to wiggle out of his grip. "You are so lucky that I'm used to the cold." She threatened. In a quieter voice, she told him. "My nipples are so hard right now." As she said this, the magical dagger walloped him.

Her words distracted him as the dagger hit him in the back of the head. He let go of her, and shook his head feeling dazed.

She let her guard down, looking at him with concern. "You okay?"

He looked at her, and nodded. Shaking the daze out of him. "Im fine." He told her.

From where she was, she willed him to heal, saying, "Feel better." As she moved across the room and prepared to dodge his attacks.

Astero felt himself actually feel better, as magic healed him up. He looked himself over and then to Mag. "Thank you, but you are looking a little chilly." He said, waving a hand and causing frost to form on her ass.

She dodged out of the way of the worst of the attack, but, annoyed, she hit him with the dagger again. "You are such an ass." She huffed, going in for a bout of mixed kicks and punches that he was blocking with his arms easily.

"And yours is cold." He chuckled, moving her arm to the side, before pulling her in for a small kiss, and cast the spell again causing more ice to from. He pulled away, but not before smacking her ass hard.

"Ahh!" She shrieked into his face. "That is cold, As!" She complained, getting frustrated and moving to knee him in the groin, which he quickly stopped in her tracks. The magical weapon attacked again, but, once again, didn't do anything. "This is frustrating. I'm not doing anything to you."

He quickly caught his second wind, and looked her over. "That thing is annoying." He told her, letting her go.

"I'm pretty sure that it's meant to be annoying." She told him. "It doesn't exactly do much damage to you." She saw how he took a few breaths and suddenly looked more composed, and quickly cast cure wounds on herself before waving a hand and watching as holy light struck him.

He felt the fire hit him, and grunted he wasn't used to that feeling. He pointed a finger at her, and sent three bolts of magical energy her way, all striking her. "Well its working." He told her honestly, rushing in to get close to her again.

She moved to counter his attack, but quickly found herself being lifted off of the ground. "Ahh!" She squealed as she went down, hitting the ground with him over top of her. She panted as she looked into his eyes, feeling excitement at their closeness. This made her smirk, and she wound her legs around his torso, pulling him closer. She kissed him firmly before her smile grew wider and she started to squeeze his middle with her legs. "Yield." She told him.

He felt her legs squeezing him, and he kissed her firmly back. He moved his arms underneath the back of her shirt and pulled apart, threatening to tear her shirt off. "You yield." He told her firmly. Smirking as he said that.

She sighed. "I yield. Only because I like this shirt." She frowned, wiggling beneath him. "But, you should definitely remove it anyway."

He smiled at her and loosened his grip on her shirt. He gave her a small kiss. "I was planning on it." He smirked, lifting her shirt up and off of her, before kissing her again.

She finished kissing him, and whined. "You probably gave me frostbite on my ass."

He smirked pulling away. "You will be fine. If you want i could always warm it up." He smiled at her, gently rubbing her ass as he did so.

"You should definitely do that." She sighed, eyes closing at his touch. "I really like this training regime."

"Yeah it's a win-win situation no matter who wins." He said, still rubbing her ass, but moving to give her some room.

"I can still keep going if you want. I've got some healing left." She offered, wiggling underneath him, and using her weight and momentum to roll on top of him while his back was on the floor.

"You would still lose." He smirked at her, sitting up and kissing her. "I barely have a scratch, and you are sore." He said squeezing his hand a bit.

"Yeah, some asshole kept pelting me with snowballs." She giggled, kissing him back. "When'd you learn that one?"

"I had some time to research." he told her, trailing a finger down her stomach and feeling where the snowballs hit.

She leaned into his touch, grabbing his hand and placing it on the cool skin. "Much better." She sighed at his warmth.

He gently rubbed her stomach, and brushed her hair out of her face. "Glad I could help." He smirked, leaning in for a long kiss.

When she pulled away from the kiss, she grabbed his hands and shoved them rather unceremoniously down her pants. "Please help me warm my ass back up." She giggled, but she was being serious. "I'm cold."

He smiled and began to rub her ass again using both hands to rub each cheek. He held her as close as he could, and gave her small kisses. "Sorry for freezing you." He whispered to her.

"Sorry for thunking you with a magical dagger." She gave him a quick peck of a kiss.

"It's okay. It didn't hurt that bad." He chuckled.

"Didn't think so. I can do a lot more damage with a couple of daggers." She told him. "It was really just an annoyance for you."

"It worked." He told her honestly. "And if we used weapons it would have been a completely different fight." He said looking at her.

She nodded. "You're right, though. I need to get used to other weapons. Maybe, I can use a rapier or something. You know I like stabby."

"A rapier would suit you, they are made for more nimble bodied people like yourself." He smirked rubbing her butt some more.

"Yes, they are." She looked at his hands and back into his eyes. "You are driving me mad right now, As."

"I am just warming you up." He said feigning innocence.

She eyed him suspiciously. "Those words were chosen very carefully, and you know it."

"Yes they were." He said as he helped her keep warm, not unlike the night with the blizzard.

Later on, she leaned into his hand. "I think that, if anything, this keeps getting better."

He smiled at her. "I think you might be right." He said moving underneath her.

She groaned. "Wait a minute." She told him quietly. "I'm not ready to move."

He stopped his moving looking at her intently. "Take all the time you need." He told her honestly.

She rested her head on his chest. "Thank you." She muttered, closing her eyes. "I could stay like this all day, but… just a bit longer."

He wrapped his arms around her, keeping her close. "I could stay stay like this too." He said closing his eyes. "So just stay as long as you want." He sighed, just enjoying her weight on his body.

"As?" She asked him quietly.

"Yes Mag?" He asked her in kind.

"Is it possible to have dessert tonight?" She asked. "I mean… besides what we just did."

"Like chocolate or fruit?" He asked her.

She hummed. "Fruit."

"Yes it is." he told her with a smile. "But that means moving." He told her.

"I know." She sighed, sitting up and moving off of him. She stood up and offered him her hand. "Can I get prestidigitation, please?"

He took her hands and got up, waving a hand over her to clean her up. "There you go." He smiled doing the same to himself, and moving to get his boxers on.

She looked at her clothes and just pulled on her underwear, stealing his shirt. "I've got to do laundry tomorrow."

He laughed, and stole a kiss from her. "If we keep up this rate, you will be doing laundry everyday of the week." He smirked, leading them to the kitchen.

"No, but I like to wash them before workout clothes get gross." She told him honestly. "For other stuff, I just let them soak longer."

"I would just use prestidigitation." He replied simply. "Will clean just about anything."

She nudged his shoulder. "I do not have that spell… yet."

"And when you get it. You will wish you had it sooner." He told her, putting an arm around her as they walked.

"I cannot wait to use it on dishes to be honest." She enthused. "It might make them enjoyable."

"Probably, it certainly made life easier with laundry." He smiled.

She giggled a bit, leaning in to him. "We need to finish that puzzle one day." She said as they walked past it. "Maybe we'll glue it and put it up on the wall."

"That would be nice, then we can make sure it stays in one piece." He chuckled softly.

"It will be nice. Proof of one of our first team building exercises." She told him, moving to sit on the counter while he moved to the refrigerator.

"It will only take us over a year." He smiled, pulling out some apples and oranges.

She watched him. "So, what's dessert?"

He pulled out some cherries and looked at her. "I was thinking of a fruit cocktail. Fast and simple."

"It's your cooking, so I'm more than happy either way." She smiled.

He chuckled, and began to chop up the fruit into two bowls. "It's hardly cooking, it is more like making."

She swung her feet from her place on the counter. "I don't even care. I wouldn't have thought to make this."

He smiled and handed her the bowl. "Enjoy." He said moving between her legs to kiss her.

She wrapped her legs around him as she popped a piece of fruit into her mouth and chewed. "Mmm." She sighed. "Mine." She said after she finished chewing.

"I'm glad you like it." He smirked taking a bite of fruit.

She stole a kiss from him. "I love that fresh fruit is a normal thing now." She ate another bite, happily crunching into apple.

He smiled into the kiss, peeling an orange and taking a slice. "It might be the best thing in the world."

"I could just eat buckets of the stuff." She sighed, taking another bite. She rested her head on his chest, eyes looking up at him. "This is perfect."

He took a deep breath, tasting the fruit on his tongue, feeling her weight pressing against him, and he was relaxed. He looked down at her and gave a small smile. "It is." He said giving her a small kiss.

She savored the kiss, letting it linger and tingle on her lips. She took one last bite of the fruit, finding the bowl now empty. "Damn. I inhaled that again."

He looked at her bowl and chuckled. He lightly put his hand on her cheek and gave her the lightest of smacks. "Bad Mag." He joked.

"Rude." She half-heartedly complained.

"I did say I would train you to eat slower. Didn't I?" He said raising an eyebrow at her.

"I didn't expect you to actually try to condition me." She giggled. "I'm trying my best. It's just hard."

He moved her bowl to the side, and took a slice of orange and held it to her mouth. "Now, I want you to slowly eat this, and savour the flavors."

She gingerly took a bite, slowly chewing and savoring the tangy juices in her mouth. "So good." She told him. "Way better than questionably purchased oranges in Yutan."

"Yes they are." He said licking a bit of juice from the side of her mouth. "And oh so juicy." He held the orange for her to take another bite.

She took the other half of the slice and bit into it. Her lips pulled into a smile. "Thank you. I love you."

"I love you." He smiled back at her. "And you are very welcome. If you keep up this, there may be a reward in it for you." He winked at her.

"Reward?" She asked curiously.

He took his hand and gently ran it down her back, before gently grabbing her ass. "I think you could think of something."

"Oh." She blushed. "That is definitely worth my troubles."

"I think you will do better when you have a goal in mind." He told her honestly. "Helps give incentive."

"What about you?" She asked him. "How do I help with your tense paranoia?"

"Well…" he said looking at her curiously. "What would you recommend? I am helping your inhalation of food. You help me with my irrational paranoia." He told her with a smile.

She sighed, running her fingertips up and down his arm. "I wish I knew when you were feeling that way so that I could help." She thought for a minute. "How about… I give you a massage when you get too tense? Would that help?"

He nodded. "That would be wonderful. Thank you." He said giving her a kiss.

She kissed him back. "Can we sleep now? I'm feeling drained."

"Yeah." he yawned. "It has been a long day, and the training really took a lot out of me." he giggled, gently grabbing her hand and pulling her off of the counter.

"You're telling me. I spoke at length to a lich before all of that." She giggled.

"In any other situation, I would have called you crazy for saying that sentence." He chuckled. "But we have a very crazy life." He said, leading her up to the bedroom.

She leaned into him. "He was surprisingly kind. It was weird. Exactly the opposite of what you would've expected. He treated me like literal royalty."

"He seemed nice. Granted I didn't talk to him much when we last spoke, but he seemed cordial enough." He nodded.

They got to their room, and she pulled off his shirt, crawling into bed and laying on top of the covers. "Oh, I'm fading fast." She sighed.

He nodded in agreement, and crawled into bed next to her. He pulled the covers out from underneath her, and pulled them over the two of them. He pulled her close to him. "Night. Love you." He yawned closing his eyes.

"Love you." She whispered to him, leaning into the comfort of his embrace before fading into a deep sleep.

Astero fell asleep quickly after her, and got a well deserved night's sleep.

The two had a simple week, which they both welcomed wholeheartedly. And by the time the weekend came by they were both more than ready to go and do something together to take their mind off of work. Astero came home with a spring in his step, glad that the weekend was finally there. "I am home!" he told the house. "Mag, I need hugs." He said honestly.

Magdiana popped her head around the corner from the kitchen where the smells of chicken being cooked could be smelled. "You okay?" She asked, running around to give him a hug before pulling him into the kitchen. "I need to keep an eye on the food, but I can cook and talk."

He followed her into the kitchen and placed his arms around her waist. "Yeah, I am fine." He told her honestly. "I just wanted a hug from you is all." He smiled kissing her cheek as she cooked. "It looks good."

"Nothing too complicated. Couple of big grilled chicken salads and garlic bread. I had a craving." She blushed. "How was work?"

"Nice and slow." He sighed contently. "Would have been home sooner, but someone wanted food at the last minute."

She gave him a small peck on the cheek. "It's okay. I didn't get started until late. Since I have a few days off, today's order was big. I didn't even get a chance to go see Mom." She sighed. "I actually have to go talk to them. Dad's ready to talk."

He nodded. "You should probably do that tomorrow." He told her. "I can come with you if you want, but I will stay here if you think it's best." He sighed, moving away from her as she began to put the food on plates.

"Honestly, I was considering going tonight." She told him. "We have work to do tomorrow."

He nodded. "That's fine. You talk to your parents, and I will have dessert for you when you get back. Deal?" he asked her with a small peck on the cheek.

"Deal." She beamed, starting to dig into their food before stopping and sighing. "Slow down, Mag." She chastised herself.

He chuckled lightly as he took a bit of the food. "This good. You could be as good as me one day." He smiled at her.

"I'll happily take pointers, but I'm definitely not going to be as good as you." She told him. "I'm far too lazy for that."

"You sell yourself short." he said taking another bit of the meal. "A few seasonings, and a bit of knowledge and you will impress yourself." He told her honestly.

She smiled, taking another bite. "I will try… As, I'm dreading this conversation tonight."

He nodded at her. "I can understand why. Do you want me to go with you?" He offered.

She thought for a minute. "No, I think it's better if it's just me this time."

"Ok then." he told her. "Try not to overthink it, okay? Thinking over it too much will just get you more stressed than you already are." He told her honestly.

"I guess I'll…" She made a face. "Pray or something. That part of the cleric thing is still weird."

"It's worth a shot." he said holding her hand. "Just remember. They are your parents, they love you no matter what." He said rubbing her hand.

She nodded. "I know. It's just a tough subject. Thank you."

"No problem." He smiled at her. "Anytime."

She grabbed one of his hands while she chewed another bite, cleaning her plate in the process. "Well, I did okay with speed. At least, I remembered to try."

"Yes you did." He said leaning over and giving her a long kiss. "Good job."

She stood up and put her plate in the sink. "I'll go grab my boots and head out so I can be back at a decent hour."

"Okay i will see you then." He said standing up and going over to the sink. "I love you." He told her.

She stole a kiss, "I love you." She said before putting on her shoes and heading to her parent's place. When she got there, she knocked on the door and anxiously waited.

Eri opened the door with a confused look, but quickly turned to smile at the sight of her daughter. "Mag!" She said going in for a hug.

Magdiana hugged her Mom. "Sorry, I just realized I probably should've used the sending stone first."

"It's fine dear." She said rubbing her back. "I am always glad to see you." She told her honestly, leading her into the house.

Magdiana looked around. "Is Jacob out?" She asked curiously. "It's too quiet."

Eri smiled. "He is staying the night at a friends house." She said with a sigh of relief.

"I bet that it's kind of a relief with him being all hyped on magic right now." She laughed, taking a seat at the dining table. "Can I get water? It's hot out."

She chuckled and went to go get the water for her. "You are going to have a bad time when the heat actually gets here." She said handing the water to her.

"I'm going to be cackling maniacally when you're cold during winter." She countered.

"I am counting on it." she laughed. "You and astero will be swimming when everyone else is bundling up."

"Oh, I'll be wearing sundresses in the winter. You just try to stop me." Magdiana smiled.

Eri shivered. "I won't, you can have fun with that."

Magdiana turned her head and smiled as Marius entered the room. "Hey, Dad." She stood up and gave him a hug.

Marius smiled as she gave him a hug. "He mag." he said rubbing her back. "How have you been?" He asked her.

"Great." She told him. "I like my new schedule way more than my old one. Can actually come practice cleric stuff with Mom most days, and I've been able to train and tend the garden too. It's nice."

"I'm glad." He said leaning down and kissing the top of her head. "And I wanted to apologize for the other day… I shouldn't have done that." He frowned. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I shouldn't have broken it to you that way. I do that when I'm stressed." She blushed as she sat back down. She looked at the two of them. "You wanted to talk."

Marius sat down, and looked at Eri. He sighed before he turned to look at Mag seriously. "So… Eri told me, that you are going to assist The King." He said, not really knowing how to continue the sentence.

Magdiana was quiet for a moment. "Yeah." She replied, feeling her response left something to be desired. "I, uh, kinda realized he was going to ask me."

He sighed hearing her response. "We aren't going to stop you from saying no… but we are sad to know it will happen." He said with tears in his eyes.

"Thank you… for understanding." She whispered emotionally. "We've got time, though, so don't get too weepy on me, old man."

He smiled a bit. "That's good." He sniffled a bit.

Eri looked ot Magdiana. "How long?" She asked a bit morbidly.

"When I asked, he used the word decades." She responded, looking down at the ring on her finger. "So, we can be a family for awhile."

The two of them let out a sigh of relief, they weren't overly happy that it was it was still an unsure time span, but it was comforting to know that they could be together for a while longer. Eri smiled and looked to Mag. "So long as we get two decades, I will be fine. I just want to make up for lost time."

"Will you do me a favor when the time comes?" She asked quietly.

"Of course dear. Anything" She said resolutely.

"Look after Astero for me." She whispered. "He didn't take the news so well."

Eri nodded. "Of course Mag." She smiled. "I will make sure my Son-in-law, is well taken care of."

"And if he does anything stupid, I will kick his ass." Marius told her.

"He's not your son-in-law yet." Magdiana bit her lip. "And, thanks, but he's human. So, don't kick his ass too hard. You'll probably break his hip at that point." She laughed at her own joke.

Marius laughed. "I will go easy on him then." he smiled at her.

"And I will heal him if he does." Eri added. "He will be well taken care of."

Magdiana closed her eyes, covering them with her hands and taking several deep breaths. "I'm sorry. This is still really hard to talk about."

"It's okay dear." Eri said comfortingly. "It is nothing to be sorry about."

She pulled her hands away, wiping tears from puffy eyes. "I think it goes without saying that you should look after whatever grandchildren you have by then."

Eri nodded. "Of course." She smiled at her daughter. "They will be well taken care of."

"I've got to be careful what I say, but, uh, I'm really sorry about the Rivin thing." She sighed, changing the subject. She couldn't handle anymore of the morbid conversation.

Marius nodded. "It's fine. Your mother talked a lot of sense into me." He said rubbing his arm a bit. "She made a convincing argument."

Magdiana's eyebrow raised. "She did? What about? I thought…" She trailed off, trying to come up with the right words.

Eri looked to marius and then to mag. "We had a small argument. And I told him that there are more important things than Astero estranged relationship with his brother."

"Yeah. I was upset about wake, we all were. But I was taking it out on Astero when it wasn't his fault." Marius sighed.

"It's okay." Magdiana said. "We were all in a bad place that day. Astero and I had a blow out too. Honestly thought that he was going to go start helping Rivin for a minute there."

"Is everything all right between you two now?" Eri asked seriously.

"Yeah." She nodded. "When he left the house, I wrote him a letter… I think it calmed him down. We're better now. He gave me grandma's wedding ring that night."

"I'm glad." Eri smiled. "She really wanted you to have it."

She smiled softly. "I never got to meet her. Am I anything like her?"

Eri chuckled. "Yes you are." She said with a smile. "And you actually did meet her, it was when you were just born. She was one of the first people to hold you."

"Yeah, but I don't remember that." Magdiana laughed.

"You might not remember it, but you did meet her." she smiled. "She would have been proud of the monster you have become."

Marius chuckled. "Oh yeah. She was more terrifying than your mom." He laughed.

"Yes, you nearly pissed yourself when you first met her." Eri laughed.

"What could she do?" Magdiana laughed. "I honestly can't think of anything scarier than Mom when she could beat Wake."

"Well, first of all, she was an elf, so had had lived for a very long time." Marius started. "Then to top it off, she was just like your mom in the cleric department, but with the added benefit of outliving a few dragons." He laughed. "Pretty fur she could stare down one too." he smiled at Eri.

"Oh yeah. She would certainly give it try, she wasn't afraid of anything." Eri mused.

Magdiana blinked a few times. "This explains why they taught me draconic. Huh."

Eri thought for a moment. "Yeah… she could. She could speak a lot of languages. But I think that was her hobby." She chuckled.

"I'm far from a polyglot." Magdiana waved a hand. "I don't have the patience for that. Potion recipes, however… different story."

"There is no harm in that… well with poisons…" Eri chuckled, realizing what she said.

"I was trying to avoid that subject, but, yeah… I have most of those memorized." Magdiana blushed.

Marius chuckled. "It's fine mag. Really. There are much worse things you could be doing." He told her honestly.

"At least, I'm not running around silencing people." Magdiana shrugged. "Don't think that would be the best for… well, someone helping The King."

"True." Marius said simply.

"Did I forget to talk about anything? Did you have any more questions?" She asked.

Eri shook her head. "No I think that might be it." She said looking to Marius.

Marius thought is over before he let out a small yawn. "No I am good for now." He nodded at Mag.

"You, Mom?" She asked.

"I am curious when the wedding will be, but it can wait until you figure it all out." She chuckled.

"Honestly? I need the crazy to settle down a bit. We're going to wait a few weeks." Magdiana smiled at her, silently adding to herself that she wanted the threat of Rivin to be gone.

"That's fine." Eri smiled. "Like I said before, just tell me when you are ready. And I will do it."

Magdiana stood and hugged both of them. "Is it weird that I'm not even nervous about marriage? It honestly just feels… natural."

"Not at all dear." Marius smiled into the hug. "If it feels right, then it is right." He told her honestly.

"I'll see you guys soon. Astero and I are going to do some adventuring jobs this weekend, so, if you need me, the sending stone would be best." She smiled, heading towards the door. "Love you!"

"Love you, too, dear!" Her parents said to Mag in unison, giggling to one another as they did it.

Mag laughed at her parents and quickly made her way home, greeting Astero happily. "Hey, As! Is dessert ready or did I come home too quickly?" She laughed as she kicked off her boots.

Astero smiled as he saw Mag come into the house. "Right on time." he told her, as he put some brownies on a plate for her, and set it at the table for her. "Here we are, dessert, chocolate, and delicious. All in one. Enjoy." he smiled, sitting down and patting the seat next to him.

Magdiana happily took her seat next to Astero. "It smells amazing." She grabbed a brownie, biting into it and moaning. "Have I told you that I fucking love you?"

"Yes, multiple times. And I love every one." He smiled kissing her cheek.

She smiled as he kissed her, taking another bite. "This is perfect. Thank you."

"Your welcome." he smiled, stealing another small kiss. He took a bit of food, and sighed contently. "This is nice." He said leaning against her lightly.

"It is. If this is anything what marriage will be like, then, I know we'll be happy." She smiled, stealing a kiss. "So, adventuring tomorrow? Maybe out of town? In a tent?" She waggled her eyebrows.

"So will I." He smiled at her. "Yes, adventuring tomorrow. As where it is. I am not picky." He smirked at her. "I just want to get stronger."

She nodded. "So, a difficult job is what I'm hearing. Good thing I'm a healer."

"I'm okay with that. It would be nice to get a challenge and do some venting." He told her honestly, sighing a bit.

"You're right. We haven't sparred very hard against each other since we got together." She kissed his cheek lightly. "Gotta keep pushing ourselves."

He kissed her lightly back. "Yeah, it is kinda hard to want to fight you anymore." He chuckled.

"I know." She hummed. "The queen doesn't want to hurt her knight."

Astero leaned in to kiss her, pulling her close. "I know. This knight doesn't want to harm his queen.."

"I love you until the end, As." She whispered, cuddling up to him.

"I love you, Mag." He yawned, responding in kind before carrying her upstairs for a well deserved rest.


	14. Tactics

Magdiana awoke in the morning to Astero's light snores. She yawned before lightly stroking his hair. "Good morning, darling." She whispered.

Astero snored for several more minutes, before he eventually awoke to look into magdiana eyes."Good morning." He said with a light stretch, before staring into her eyes. For a long moment.

She smiled and kissed him. "Let's get some breakfast and head out."

"Okay." he said kissing her back. He sat up and stretched for a moment, before he turned to look at her. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"I will eat anything. You know how I am about breakfasts." She made a face. "I'm really only eating because I should."

"You shouldn't pout." He told her. "It doesn't suit you." He said getting out of bed, and going to go use the bathroom.

She made a pouty face. "I wasn't pouting, but I am now."

He came out a minute later and shook his head at her. "Still doesn't suit you, you are far too pretty for that face." He said walking up and kissing her, before changing into clothes.

She kissed him and started to dress. "I suppose pouting doesn't suit the queen." She mocked.

"You are adorkable." He laughed.

"The queen is not a dork." She said in a pompous accent. "Okay, I'm done."

"I love you." He said kissing her, and lightly smacking her ass. "Now go and get dressed, while I make breakfast." He said making his way downstairs to the kitchen.

She started to arm herself and dress. She packed her adventuring gear, and moved downstairs to pull on her boots. "That smells great." She commented as she walked past Astero.

"Thank you." He told her simply. "Something light but filling. Pancakes and eggs."

"I can live with that." She smiled taking a seat at the table. "What syrup do we have?" She asked curiously.

He thought it over, and moved to the cupboard. "We have maple, and a small amount of pineapple." He said holding two small containers and setting them on the table for her.

"We will have to get blueberry eventually." She laughed. "Maple works."

He sighed at the sound of that. "Yes. I will get some during the week." He told her, going to plate up the food.

"Thank you." She blushed. "I really like blueberry syrup. Sorry for being picky."

"Don't be." he shook his head lightly. "That sounds delicious."

"It is." She told him, waiting for their meal to be ready. "Fruity."

He turned and put the food down in front of her. "Enjoy." He said sitting down next to her.

She took a bite. "Not bad for breakfast food." See commented.

"Something quick and simple." He told her. "Figured you would want to get going soon after we finished this." He chuckled.

"Pretty much right away. Need to get the good jobs before they are taken."

"Sounds good." He said eating a bit faster. "You have my full permission to inhale your food then." He joked at her,

"Honestly, that's what I was about to do. Permission or not." She told him honestly.

"Well fuck me for being nice then." He said joking mocking her.

She started eating her food at an expedited pace. When she finished, she burped and grabbed her stomach. "Oh, I ate too fast. The reverse conditioning is working."

He smirked at her. "I am sorry you almost hurt yourself, but I am glad it ." He said finishing his food and taking their plates to quickly wash them. He held out his hand for her. "You ready? Or do you need a minute?" He giggled.

"I'm ready." She groaned, standing up and grabbing his hand. "Let's go."

He took her hand and gently kissed it, before walking her over to the door and leading them to the guild for work. They quickly entered the building, and made their way to the job board. Thankfully there were very few jobs taken. They each looked over the board, before astero pointed at one which looked odd, given the rest of them. "Haunted farm. Please clean my barn." he said looking at her.

"Great. Either squatters, ghosts, or monsters." She laughed. "I'm in."

He smiled and took the paper off the wall. "Great. Let's go 'clean a barn'." He chuckled.

She smiled and followed him out of the guild. "Tomorrow's adventure will hopefully sound cooler." She giggled.

He smiled at her. "Yeah, it will be like 'Kill the nightmare', or something similar." He said grabbing her hand.

"Let's not fight an angry fiendish Pegasus." She cringed.

"I wasn't planning on it." He told her. "It just sounded cool."

"It does sound cool. Cleaning out the barn. Not so much." She laughed.

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "We will make it fun. Who ever cleans the most whatever is there, goes down on the other later." He whispered to her.

"Deal." She said, offering her hand to shake. "May the best fighter win." She winked at him.

"May the best rogue win." He said grabbing her hand.

She nudged him. "We're both going to be cunning linguists. Aren't we?"

"I think that would be a tie." He chuckled.

"Well, whatever happens, I'm sure we'll both enjoy it." She smiled, leading him out of town to where the barn was. "I'm surprised how far from town this farm is."

"Yeah, you would think a farm would be closer." He added, watching the road for any threat.

"It's nice to spend time together, though. We're still kind of in the honeymoon getting to know each other better phase of the relationship. I feel like we still have so much to learn about each other." She told him with a smile while holding his hand.

He smiled, and gave her a small kiss. "Yeah." He sighed happily. "How about we each tell the other they don't know." He said the her.

"Tell the other what they don't know. Hmm. Okay." She thought back. "When I found out that they were making me use my poisons on you in spars, I started diluting them on purpose."

He nodded. "That sounds right. I remember feeling better after a point in our spars." He smiled at her, before thinking for a moment. "Okay, I was once offered to break into your room, and steal your underwear." He smirked at her.

"Oh, was it like a dare?" She asked curiously.

"A bet really." He told her honestly.

"I don't remember missing underwear. Huh." She shrugged. "In the transcript of my very high escapades, I said, and I'm quoting directly here, 'That Astero's such an ass, but I'm going to rock his world one day'."

"I didn't know you were a portence wizard." he chuckled, at her. "There was a point in my life where I thought clouds were just flying sheep."

She giggled at that. "Aww. That's adorable." She pecked him on the cheek. "My 'parents' didn't exactly parent me well, and I had a literal freak out when I first started to get boobs."

He smiled at her. "Well you filled out well." he said squeezing her hand. "I am partially color blind. Some green and reds blend together to me."

"I did not know that. Huh." She thought about that. "Oh, shit. Well, just ask me if we ever find potions. I'll let you know what colors they are."

"Thank you." He said kissing her cheek. "It won't be often, but just know that if you wear the right color bra and underwear they will look the same to me."

"And, now, I feel like an asshole for asking for green roses." She facepalmed with her free hand. "Good thing I prefer black… anyway, I am twenty three years old, and I have no idea if I have a middle name or what it is."

"Well that is an easy fix. Just ask your parents." He chuckled.

She sighed and took out her sending stone. "I feel stupid." She said before activating it. "Hey, Mom?"

A moment passed before she eventually replied. "Yes dear?"

"I've got a dumb question." She responded.

"I have a dumb answer." She joked back.

"Do I have a middle name?" Magdiana blushed on her side of the sending stone.

A small chuckle came from the stone before Eri replied. "Yes you do. It's Juniper." she half laughed.

"You two know that you gave a defenseless infant a ten syllable name. Right?" Magdiana deadpanned.

"Yup." She said popping the 'p'.

"Thank you, Mom." Magdiana responded with a laugh.

"Your welcome dear." Eri replied the stone going quiet.

Magdiana looked to Astero. "Magdiana Juniper Rothenel. Sweet Mask what were they thinking?"

Astero looked back at her. "I think it's cute." He smiled at her. "I could call you Jun, for short." He chuckled.

"In an alternate timeline, you might have called me MJ." She smirked.

"And I would be AJ" He smirked back.

"As… I don't know your middle name." She blushed.

"Oh. it's Jasper." He smiled at her. "It is different, but it is what it is."

"I like it. Sounds strong." She told him. "I think I prefer Mag and As, though."

"Yeah, it has a much better ring to it." He said nudging her a bit.

"It's your turn." She nudged him back.

"But I just told you my middle name." He said looking at her curiously.

She giggled. "Fine. You damn lawyer." She thought for a minute before blushing. "I want to have a big family."

He blinked a few times looking at her for a moment. "How big?" He asked her seriously.

"I mean… not huge, but more than two?" She asked.

"Like two or three?" He asked back.

"Three or four." She responded.

He thought it over for a moment. "Okay, I am fine with that." he nodded. "I would like girls." He told her seriously.

"At least one boy, though." She told him. "So, he can beat all the boys away from the girls at school."

He laughed at that. "Yup that sounds like something he would have to do." He chuckled.

"I mean… I apparently, had a fanclub in Yutan, and, you, my love, are going to make beautiful children." She mussed his hair.

"Yes you did. I met some of them, they asked me what you bra size was." He sighed before he looked at her. "And yes. Together we are going to have beautiful children." He said kissing her cheek.

"36 double D." She sighed. "And that's after I've gained weight. It used to be a 34, and those are impossible to find."

"Oh they figured it out on their own." He chuckled. "And that sounds about right." He said mimicking a squeeze and looking at her chest.

She chuckled looking down at them herself. "If it weren't for these, I could fit at least two more daggers on myself."

"And I am very grateful for them." He smiled at her, swaying their hands as they walked for a bit. "I like maps. They always look so cool."

"There's a certain artistry to them, isn't there?" She asked. "My favorite gemstone is onyx."

"That's a nice one. "He nodded. "I like ruby. Also I saw an astral diamond once."

"You did?! Holy shit, As! Those are damn near priceless." She enthused.

"Oh, they have a price… and it is gross." He said making a face.

She laughed. "Well, I know that, but it's a price I don't anticipate paying in my lifetime… There was a time in Yutan that I was told to start administering poisons to myself."

"Im guessing you didn't do it." He said looking at her intently.

"I did." She looked torn by that fact. "It's one of the reasons why I can use my blood as an ingredient in assassin's blood."

He was quiet for a moment thinking it over. "So does that mean your blood is toxic?" He asked her curiously.

"Probably still is, yeah." She responded. "I haven't done it since we left."

"Okay, do not draw blood when I bite you during sex… noted." He nodded to himself.

"Contact shouldn't be a problem. Just ingestion." She told him.

"Well it's a good thing I'm not a vampire then." He chuckled at her. "I once broke my leg in three places when I was four." He smiled.

"Ouch." She whined. "I broke my wrist once taking a fall during the needing to learn takedowns escapades. Learned how to tuck and roll after that."

He looked at her for a moment. "I don't remember you ever wearing a cast." he said curiously.

"That's because I didn't." She told him. "Couldn't afford it and knew my parents wouldn't do much to help, so I set it and tried to fight left-handed for a few weeks."

He cringed. "I am sorry." he said lifting her right wrist and giving it a small kiss. "That blows."

She pointed to the spot. "It was right there. I can still feel it sometimes, and, if you compare it to the other wrist, there's a visible difference."

He grabbed her other wrist, and compared the two. "Oh wow. Mag i am sorry." he said looking at her wrist, and gently squeezing it. "When we get back, you should talk to your mom, your arm is not set right." He told her seriously.

She looked at it. "It feels normal."

He gently squeezed her wrist and moved her free hand to it. "This is your broken one." He then moved it to the same place on her other wrist. "This is the fine one. There is a difference."

"Figured that it was normal after the break. It doesn't hurt all the time. Just when the weather gets fucky." She tried to rebuff him. "I don't want my parents to feel any worse about the whole kidnapping thing."

He made a face, but nodded. "Okay, but promise me you will at least see her at some point before the wedding? Okay?" He asked her seriously.

She sighed. "Okay… Ugh. Sorry. I just really don't want to have that conversation."

"It's okay." He told her honestly. "I get it."

"I think I'd rather sit through them trying to give a twenty three year old the talk." She told him honestly.

"That sounds almost worst." he said looking at her. "It would still be better than old guys telling you about it."

"At least with the talk, there's something to giggle about afterwards." She sighed. "My 'mom' didn't give me the talk until I got my first period. It was… traumatic. Like… okay, you're going to bleed once a month for the foreseeable future, and, oh, by the way, this is because you can make babies now. Ugh."

"And congrats! You're not pregnant!" He added jokingly.

She nodded. "That's literally the only thing good about it… and, I'm out of popsquite for next week."

He hummed for a moment, knowing she would need something to help her. "Well if you need something to take your mind off of it, I will try to help however I can." he said squeezing her hand.

"Without that particular remedy, I have to use some other things, which are legal, but not as effective. Hot packs help. Same with warm baths." She shrugged. "Other than that, I guess I could try asking my employer if they have a hookup, but I don't like the idea."

"It might be useful." He nodded. "Either way I will be sure to bring you plenty of chocolate and cuddles."

She smiled at him. "Yeah, both of those will help… and exercise. Make sure I'm doing my routine."

He smiled back at her. "Good." He said kissing her hand.

"What do you think is in this haunted barn?" She asked Astero, realizing the terrain was rapidly changing around them to a more rural one.

"Honestly, I am not sure, but my best guess is ghosts." He told her honestly. "I do hope you know how to exorcise ghosts."

She thought for a minute. "My Mom said that I should be able to turn undead, so I can scare them away, I guess."

"I really hope we don't run into those." He told her. "That would suck."

"Did you just jump from ghosts to zombies in your head?" She asked him curiously.

"Yes." He told her honestly. "And now, skeletons." he said looking off into the distance. "Told you, I was paranoid."

She rubbed his shoulders a bit. "Ghosts are still undead, but without the fun, turning you into one of them part."

He nodded, sighing a bit as he felt her hands on her shoulders. "I just assume the worst sometimes."

"It's okay. I'm a Cleric. I'll protect you." She told him. "You just stay close and the holy light of Mask will smite down all ne'er-do-wells." She joked, still running her hands up and down his back.

He laughed at that. "Thank you. I needed the laugh." He said turning to kiss her properly on the lips.

She smiled into the kiss. "You're welcome, and I love you." She looked beyond him to a large run down looking barn. "We're gonna get splinters."

"Or a staff infection." He sighed, stepping forward to start looking around the area for any clues.

She started to walk towards the barn. "At least, it's daytime." She sighed.

"Yeah." He said looking around and not seeing any foot traffic. "Also I am pretty sure it is not squatters."

"Yeah." She responded. "I would expect to see much more in the way of tracks. Honestly, it looks only like a couple of sets of footprints headed towards the barn."

He nodded, seeing what she was talking about. "Yeah, my guess is the people who own the place made those. Checking to see if it was done or not." He said looking to the barn doors.

She eyed the farmhouse in the distance. "From this direction? More like unlucky adventurers."

"Ugh… well that will be fun explaining to the guild hall." He sighed.

She nodded. "Yep." They were close to the barn, now, and she grew silent, listening for any sounds that might indicate a ghost or monster inside. "Do you hear anything?"

Astero closed his eyes and listened for a minute. "No. I know it is daytime, but even then it is way too quiet." He told her honestly.

She sighed, looking for a window into the barn. "Well, I can either try to climb up to the obscenely high window at least two storeys up or we can… add stimuli to the situation."

He sighed and drew Wakes sword. "How about we slowly walk in?"

She nodded. "That works." She drew Mask's dagger and Wake's dagger, knowing that magical weapons would probably be their best bet if this were certain types of creature. "Me first?"

He shrugged. "It really doesn't matter, but I can take a hit if need be."

"You first, but, in case it's dark, take this." She cast light on a copper piece and handed it to him.

"Thank you." he said grabbing the coin, and leading the way into the barn. He slowly opened the door, and carefully looked around the large derelict barn. He slowly walked to the center of the room, and made a small circle as looked around. He sighed a bit and looked to mag. "I bet they come out at night."

She looked around, looking into a couple of stables and starting to carefully walk upstairs. When she saw nothing, she sighed. "Dammit. I don't want to fight ghosts at night."

He took a deep breath, sighing as he did so. "Get out here you undead bastards!" Astero yelled to the room.

Magdiana stepped next to him. "I can try one thing, but it's weird."

He sighed when nothing happened, and looked to Mag. "By all means." He said with a small bow.

She took out a few empty vials and poured water from her waterskin into them, taking a minute to bless them and carefully wetting a rag with the water, starting to fling it around the barn randomly. "If this doesn't work during the day, I don't know what will."

Astero watched as Mag threw the vials of water around and they smashed against th esurface they landed on. A few moments passed. "Well… I guess we are-" he was cut off as a deafening howl rang out throughout the barn.

At the far end of the barn, where one of the vials had broken, a ghostly figure clawed its way out of the ground. Looking to the two of them, it let out another hellish yell. It's body arched back, as the wind began to pick up in the stagnant barn. Object began to shake and a few moments later flew off of the wall and to the figure, creating a conglomeration of objects that began to form a body, then arms, and lastly a head with demonic red eyes. Then it dashed at the two, attempting to slash into the both of them.

"The holy water worked." Magdiana said quickly at a higher pitch than normal as she prepared for a fight.

"No shit." Astero said sarcastically, as he began to move around to flank this… thing.

Magdiana nimbly dodged out of the way of the monster's slash, using the tactical advantage Astero gave her to get a good strike in with her first dagger before she struck two more times in quick succession. She made sure to be nice and annoying to make sure Astero could get a few good licks in.

Astero took a quick breath, and quickly slashed several times in rapid succession into the monster. He smiled when the all hit their mark, and he readied himself for any attack that might come his way.

The creature turned its 'body' to astero, and began to slash at it with rusted blade claws. It swung several times, but missed all but one, thanks to the use of Astero casting Shield. The one attack that hit however hit hard, and sent him flying back several feet, with blood coming from him.

Magdiana disengaged from the beast, ran to Astero, and healed him before throwing Mask's dagger with the boom of thunder and sizzle of fire. The dagger stuck, and she ran in, grabbing it and yanking it out of the monster's flank only for it to turn to her with its glowing red eyes. "Fuck." She mumbled.

Astero stood up, and patted Mag on the shoulder as he ran by her. He slid past the monster leg, and knocked a good few chucks of the materials off of it. He got behind it and hit it hard again. Shoving the blade as far into the monster as he could. "Come on you big bastard just re-die already."

The monster glanced a mag, and took a swipe at her, just barely grazing her leg, before it turned to make two more attacks at Astero. The two hits landed, but he wasn't thrown back like before he stayed his ground. The monster let out another yell.

Magdiana winced at the cut of the blade on her leg. She stumbled a bit, but stayed standing, staying in a flank with Astero and reaching out with a hand, fingers glowing with black energy as she grabbed the beast's hind leg. She watched as it withered beneath her fingertips, seeing Astero injured, she called out. "Feel better!" And watched his wounds close sightly.

"Thank you dear!" He said as he cut into the monster and cast firebolt into his head, startling the beast. He was able to take a step back, and move around to her readying himself next to her.

The beast reeled around, rearing it's head and wailing directly into their faces with a piercing shriek that made Magdiana's ears ring painfully. She whimpered as the monster continued its assault, striking her twice with it's slashing claws and knocking her back several feet before biting at Astero, but only managing to sink its teeth into his armor before letting out a frustrated sounding growl.

Magdiana stood up from her place on the ground, firing off a bolt of holy light towards the monster, which struck home, making it glow with that same intense brightness before she cast another healing spell on herself. "Finish it, As!" She called from her place. She fell to a knee too weak to get any closer.

Astero nodded at her request and yelled back at the beast. He attacked the monster several times sending it staggering backwards. He let out a small sigh, before the monster stopped and stared at astero intently. Astero let out a grunt, and cast Witchbolt lighting the monster up with electricity, causing it to fall and collapse into the bits and bobs that comprised it.

Magdiana panted from her place, moving the leg of her pant and seeing grizzly black track lines moving up her leg from where she'd been cut. She tried to remain calm, but her face didn't look it as she cast Lesser Restoration. "Oh, please work." She sobbed a bit.

Astero turned and limped over to her. "How are you holding up?" He asked as he sat down next to her with a thud. He looked her over and looked at her leg. "You will be fine." He told her calmly.

With the casting of the spell, the black started to recede from her leg, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll be okay, but what about you? You got hit way more than me."

He grunted as he turned his back to her. "If you can, my back is killing me." he told her, pointing to a similar, but larger black mark on his back.

Magdiana frowned, but cast the spell on him too. She held him close. "Oh, thank Mask." She sighed as it started to become lighter in color. "It looks better already."

Astero sighed in relief as he felt the magic wash over him. "Thank you." He said leaning on her lightly, giving her a small kiss on the cheek.

"You're welcome." She sighed, kissing him back. "I'm out of magic, though, so we'll need to rest rather than heal now."

He nodded. "That is fine with me, but let's not rest here. I don't want to see… that." He said pointing to the mound of items.

She nodded, slowly coming into a standing position. "Ugh." She groaned, grabbing one of the rusted blades and wrapping it up in a piece of fabric before shoving it into her bag. "Should be good enough for the guild." She sighed, slowly starting to limp out of the building.

"Let's hope. I really don't want to come back here again." He grunting as he stood up, following her to the door. "Fuck that thing. I am sore all over."

"You're not alone." She told him, opening the barn door and seeing the sun still bright in the sky. "Let's get a short rest in, and, then, head back. I want the longest shower tonight."

"That sounds amazing." He told her, following her lead.

She closed and locked the barn behind them, quickly pitching her tent for some shade before crawling into it. "Ahh." She groaned as she laid down. "I would say that we walk right past my parent's place on the way back, but I don't want them to see us like this."

"Yeah… let's not get them worried about our side hobby of adventuring." He said laying down next to her. "Oh fuck the hell yes." He said as his back popped as he laid down.

She sighed from next to him. "I'm jealous." She turned around to look at him, holding his hand. "I'm also surprised that our new weapons didn't do something cool together today. I have been getting the feeling that they should."

Astero nodded. "Yeah, I was finally able to attune to the blade. But I think they are meant to be used for things other than combat." He told her without wanting to explain more.

"This not being able to talk about it and dancing around the words is killing me, As." She grumbled, resting her eyes for a minute. "Fuck. Why am I so exhausted?"

"I know. It is annoying." He nodded. "That thing was way harder than we were expecting. I can see why other adventurers didn't make it."

She nodded tiredly. "I didn't see bodies. Was weird."

"Not going to worry about it." He sighed laying his head on the ground. "Nap time."

Her eyes suddenly opened. "Oh, shit. Now, I'm worried. What if they walked away?"

Astero sighed, and covered his face with his hands. "Were there any trails leading away from the barn?" He asked worriedly.

She thought about what they'd seen for a long minute. "Towards the farmhouse."

"Then either they are still in there. Or they somehow vanished." He said looking to her.

She thought about it for a minute. "The King was just in town multiple times…"

"Maybe he took them with him?" He asked her, not really sure how The King did his work.

"It's possible." She sighed. "Should we check the house? I don't see anybody working the fields, and I'm nervous."

"Yeah. we should." He sighed. "We can't take chances on this type of shit." He told her.

She nodded, sorely sitting up. "Ugh." She sighed. "I should've brewed potions for us."

He sat up as well. "Hindsight is a bitch." He sighed.

"I'm suddenly glad that I didn't channel divinity earlier." She sighed, starting to exit the tent.

He followed her out of the tent, and stood up. He was able to stand with more ease. "I am glad I didn't cast many spells."

She frowned. "I used up all of my juice. Good thing I'm still a rogue."

"I will make sure to keep at a distance then." He told her.

"Just… please… don't get bit or scratched." She begged. "I don't want to lose you."

"I will keep my distance." He told her seriously. "I don't plan on getting hit."

She squeezed his hand before knocking on the door to the farmhouse. When there was no response, she looked to Astero before knocking again. "Not good."

He sighed as he looked to her. "Is it locked? Or do I have to kick in the door?" He asked her.

"As, you never have to kick in the door with me around." She giggled, testing the knob. "It's open." She grabbed her weapons, and opened the door widely pushing it in hard enough to make a thunking sound against the wall.

She peered inside and found it difficult for her eyes to adjust to the darkness inside given the brightness outside. She grabbed another copper piece out of her pouch, cast light, and tossed it in only to find several figures suddenly illuminated inside. She took a step back. "Oh, shit." She murmured. "Not good, As."

Asteros eyes grew wide, as he saw six shambling corpses moving around in the house. "Fuck me sideways." He said pulling out his dagger and readying it.

Magdiana gripped her dagger given by Mask, and prayed, "Please, don't let them touch us." A moment later, all but one of the zombies was running away from them. She quickly dispatched the one before firing a bolt of holy light at the next. "Fire, As!"

Astero launched a Fire Bolt on the closest one, and threw his dagger to dispatch it completely. He then took a pose to dodge if one of them got close.

Magdiana flung another mote of holy fire before throwing a dagger, impaling the next one in the head. In the room, three more zombies hovered at the edge of her ability to turn them, wanting to move towards them, but afraid of the aura she controlled. She took a tentative step forward, trying to get a better angle on the ones she could see.

Astero summoned the dagger back to to his hand. He took a step next to her, not wanting to leave her side. He raised a hand and cast Snilloc's Snowball Swarm aiming for the biggest mass of them. Ice pummeled the three of them, and two of them dropped. "Drop them mag!" He told her.

Magdiana cast Sacred Flame one more time, punctuating the attack with a final thrown dagger, felling the last one the next second. She sighed in relief, but her eyes searched for any more threats. "I think that's it." She told him.

He took a few steps in, to check for any undead. He didn't hear anything, but he was still tentative. "I think you might be right. But, not taking chances." He said carefully looking around a corner and seeing nothing.

She followed him carefully. "This aura won't last much longer." Magdiana whispered.

"Then we should move faster." He sighed speeding up his pace as he held his sword at the ready for any undead.

She followed him, keeping pace, but not seeing anything. She felt the magic she was using cease, and whispered. "Out of juice."

He slowed down, not needing the speed for the spell Mag was using. They made their way around the small house, and after about an hour of meticulous searching they found the place to be empty besides the two of them. Astero let out a sigh of relief, and looked to Mag. "Thank fuck, we are done."

"Can we go get our money and go the fuck home?" She asked, her shoulders lowering in a facsimile of relaxation.

"Fuck yes." He said holding her hand. He led her to the door before he stopped and took the head off of one of the undead. "Just incase they think the other thing wasn't enough." he told her wrapping the head up and putting it in his pack.

She cringed at the mess as he put it in his pack. "Ew. That's disgusting." She complained "But understandably necessary."

"Sorry, not sorry." he told her shouldering his bag. "Now let's go get paid." he said leading her out of the house and on the way back to town.

"How much was this one worth again? Do you think we can talk them into more? Farmhouse extermination was not on the job offer." She asked.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the paper. "It says 300 gold pieces, yeah, we should see if we can get more. Cleaning our house out was more, and way less dangerous." He told her.

"600 would be worthwhile… 750 would be more accurate as far as difficulty goes." She pondered.

He nodded at the offer. "Yeah that sounds about right." he said thinking it over. "They better pay us for this, or so help me gods." He threatened.

"They will." She promised with a wink. "I'm very persuasive. How much do we still owe on the house?"

He thought it over for a minute. "Well the house had a deposit of 1,200 gold pieces, and we still need to get 800 more together. Then it will be paid off." He smiled at her. "Got 50 gold?" He chuckled.

"Hells, 50 is what I keep for spending cash." She laughed. "I'll just be short for awhile."

He pulled her hand up to kiss it. "I'm kidding, hells, I have 50 gold on me." He told her. "We are paying off the house after this." He smiled at her.

"Yes!" She enthused. "Officially homeowners. I forgot how cheap Rivin let the place go for."

He made a face. "I think it was more along the lines of blackmail, verus letting it go." He told her. "I doubt any realtor would ever let a place go for that low of a price in the area it is at."

She sighed. "You're right, but I am trying to think positive."

"Sorry." he said making a face. "I'm in one of those paranoid moods." He told her.

"I don't blame you. Your last paranoid instinct was accurate." She sighed, stepping behind him and rubbing his shoulders. "I've got you."

He let out a sigh as she began to rub his back. "Thank you." He said turning his head to look at her. "You are an angel. Still not sure how I was able to get you."

She kissed the back of his head, still rubbing his shoulders. "All you really had to do was be yourself. I fell for you as is."

He smiled, thinking over in his head just how long he had known her. "I am sorry it took me a while to fall for you. But, I am glad I got there eventually." He smiled back at her.

"I'm glad that we had that talk that made you decide to give me a chance." She told him. "I love you, My Knight."

He turned around, and kissed her. "And, I love you, My Queen." He smiled into the kiss.

"What's on the menu for tonight?" She asked conversationally. "Easy, I assume or are we going out?"

"I vote we go out. I don't want to cook." he told her honestly.

"Can we go to The Rook? I want to subtly check on Raze." She said quietly.

He nodded and put an arm around her. "Of course we can." He quietly told her.

"I feel badly for not checking in sooner, but…" She shook her head. "I think we were all fucked up this week."

"It has been a long week." He said with a nod. "For everyone."

"I would kill for a month of relative normalcy." She closed her eyes and leaned into him.

"Do undead count? Because I think we might have hit the quota." He chuckled, enjoying her weight leaned against him.

She laughed a bit leaning into his ear and whispering. "I'm pretty sure Rivin is the one that'll count."

He nodded. "Your right." he said whispering back. "Expect, we will have years of normalcy." He told her.

She kissed him. "Yes, we will. A lifetime of it. Together."

"Until the end." He said kissing her back.

She picked up speed as they headed into town. "Come on. I've got to give you a blow job."

He laughed and followed behind her. "Well lead the way." He smirked at her.

She lead the way to the adventuring guild first, stepping up to the counter and looking around and finding business seemed rather slow. "Well, at least, only you will be witness to my persuasion." She whispered, subtly unbuttoning the top two buttons on her shirt.

He smiled at her, and did a quick look around before he tossed her hair a bit. He took a step back and nodded. "Perfect." He said looking her over. "I would do that." He smirked at her.

"You do." She winked, seeing a man stepping from behind a door at the back of the establishment. She gazed at him, not breaking eye contact while leaning over the counter. She suddenly realized she was wearing a ring on a very important finger, she moved that arm below the bar. "Hey, there." She smirked at the man.

The man smiled widely at her. "Hello miss." he said leaning close to her, how can I help you?" He said in a smooth voice.

"I just finished a job, and I've actually got some questions. Are prices negotiable in the event that something was underestimated?" She asked, gently placing a hand on the man's arm and quickly retrieving it with a blush. "Oh, sorry."

The man smirked. "Yes they can be, it just depends on what was underestimated is all." he said looking her over. "And don't be. You are fine." He said, his words having a double meaning.

She blinked at him with a smile. "Well, we went in to clean up a haunted barn, and encountered something that killed other adventurers from this guild that almost got us too. Then, to top it off, those adventurers were turned to undead and filled up the farmhouse also on the property."

The man thought it over for a moment. "That is a pretty tall claim. Do you have proof?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.

Astero nidded, and stepped forward, he reached into his bag, and unceremoniously dropped the head on the counter. "That should be enough." He told him, staring daggers into the man.

Magdiana quietly pulled out one of the daggers that had cut into them. "Whatever was in the barn pulled all of the objects to it like some sort of armor and attacked us with these."

The man leapt back at the sight of the head. "Sweet merciful fuck! What the hell!" He screamed. He took many deep breaths and looked the two over. "Okay… yeah, that wasn't supposed to be on the contract." He said, having a hard time breaking eye contact with the head.

Magdiana reached up and turned his eyes to look at hers. "We did a job for 500 a few weeks ago that was much easier." She told him, giving him eyes. "Call it 800 and we'll forget it was ever a problem."

He looked at her, and then to the head and the dagger, before looking back to mag and nodding. "Yeah, deal. That shouldn't have happened." he said making a face, and going into the back to get the new coin amount.

She smirked, looking to Astero. "House is paid off." She whispered.

He nodded and blew her a kiss. "I love you." He whispered back.

She watched the man walk back with the coin and leaned over some more. "Will you be here tomorrow too?" She asked him flirtatiously.

"Yes, I, will." He told her with a large smile, completely ignore the larger astero behind her.

She gently took the coin from him and winked. "I'll see you then." She backed away, not wanting to also present him with her ass. Instead she winked just before opening the door and heading outside. She sighed when they were out of there, buttoning her shirt again. "I love you, but now I feel dirty."

He smiled at her and looked her over. "Then I guess a shower is in order then." he chuckled undoing the buttons. "I like it that way." He smirked at her.

"We still need food too." She smiled.

He sighed, and buttoned her shirt up again. "Fine, but you need to dress that way more often. You are a fucking tease when you are like that." He smirked at her. "I love it."

"I will happily wear all the slutty outfits when I need to persuade coin out of someone or while we're at home." She laughed. "Maybe, we'll even go get those sundresses we discussed sometime soon."

He put his arms around her and and gently grabbed her ass. "Yes please." He husikly said into her ear.

"We'll have spending cash after tomorrow's job." She smiled. "Do you feel any stronger? Because, right now, I just feel like a mess."

He stretched his muscles a bit. "No, just sore right now." He sighed.

They made it to The Rook, which wasn't far away at all, and found a slightly disheveled Raze behind the front counter. "Hey, Raze." Magdiana greeted, looking to Astero.

Astero looked to Mag, and then to Raze. "Hey, your favorite gossip story is here." He smiled at the tiefling.

"Oh, it is lovely to see you two." She yawned, looking between them and seeing Magdiana's ring. "You look like you have been busy. Let me see it."

Mag smiled and gave Raze her hand. "It's been an eventful week."

Astero nodded, looked at the tired woman. He leaned in and looked at Raze. "How are you holding up?" He asked her seriously, speaking quietly to her.

Raze frowned. "He would have been back from his last trip today…"

Astero placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it softly. "We know." He sighed, looking at Mag.

Magdiana walked around the counter and hugged her. "If you need anything, just tell us, and we'll be there."

"Thank you, you two." Raze ended the hug quickly. "Now, go get a couple of drinks on me."

Astero nodded, and began to walk over to a booth. "Thank you Raze." He smiled at her.

"Thanks, Raze." Magdiana smiled, following Astero into the dining area. When they were seated and their drinks ordered, she sighed. "She's not doing so hot."

"I could tell." He said casually glancing at Raze. "She is just barely holding herself together." he sighed, looking into his drink.

"I don't know that there's much we can do." She sighed. "Other than be there for her."

He nodded. "Yeah… it seems like the only thing we can do." He sighed.

"I almost feel worse for having come here." She sighed. "Don't want to drag up memories for her."

"Yeah, I feel you there." He sighed. "And all because I was too lazy to cook."

"Hey, it's probably better than not checking in." She sighed. "It's just a lose lose situation is all."

He nodded, and took a sip of his drink. "At least this is a good drink, she still knows how to make a good one." He smiled a bit at her.

Magdiana took a sip. "Oof. Straight home later. I'm going to be sauced."

He chuckled a bit. "Okay then. Straight home after food. Just take it slow on the drink."

"It's strong." Magdiana commented, taking another sip. "Your blow job is going to be sloppy now."

He shook his head a bit. "Oh no, however will I survive!" He said sarcastically.

She eyed him before abandoning her pack and moving to his side of the booth. She cuddled into him. "I'll keep you warm for survival." She played.

He held her close, and looked down at her. "It is far too warm for cuddles, we will have to take clothes off." He smirked at her.

She processed his words and unbuttoned her top two buttons again. "That's as good as it gets in public."

He smiled and leaned down to give her a kiss. "It is more than enough for me."

She kissed him again as their food arrived. "At least, I'm not a slutty drunk. Or… an indiscriminate slutty drunk."

He smiled as the food was placed in front of him, and thanked the waitress, before he turned to look at her. "I am glad. That would be too much." He told her honestly.

She took a small bite of food, remembering to savor the flavor. "I only have eyes for you." She blushed, thinking about her escapades in Yutan.

He took a bite of his food, and sighed in relief at the fact he didn't have to cook. "And I only want you." He smiled at her. "Also you are blushing." He smirked.

"Just remembering…" She trailed off for a minute, blushing more before whispering into his ear. "How I got off thinking about you while I was high off my ass in Yutan."

He blinked a few times in surprise, before he turned to look at her. "I really wish I could have seen that. It would have been quite the show." He whispered back.

"I'm sure it was." She giggled. "It was a pretty good night despite the accidental drug use."

"Knowing you, it was spectacular." He chuckled, taking a bite of his food.

"I'm pretty sure that people heard, but I don't even care." She laughed, taking another bite.

He smiled at that. He took a few more bites, before he looked back at her with a question. "So was that the only time you were high, and got off?" He asked her curiously.

"I mean, no, but those were hard drugs. The stuff I normally use is fucking nothing comparably." She made a face.

He nodded at her. "Okay. was just curious. Never really delved too deep into drugs, so I guess I am just curious is all." He said taking a bite of food.

"As, it was an accident. I never took Agony again, and I don't intend to. I much prefer keeping my wits about me and fucking you senseless." She winked at him.

"I wasn't planning on it either." He smirked back. "Just knowing you are as flexible as you are works plenty for me."

"I'll fold into a pretzel and let you have your way with me." She offered, finishing her plate.

"I am perfectly fine with that." He said finishing his food soon after her. He took his drink and quickly finished it. "Ready to leave?" He asked her with a smirk.

She gulped down the last of her drink and leaned into him. "Maybe you should pay." She told him. "I'm not sure I can tell silver and electrum apart right now."

He laughed, and put the coin on the table for the food. "Hot, sexy, athletic, extremely deadly, and a cheap date… gods you are perfect." He smiled down at her, kissing her and leading them out of the The Rook.

Her tongue plundered his mouth for a moment before pulling away. "This is why I'm the queen." She joked.

He smiled down at her. "And like a knight, I will assist my queen with, any of her needs." He huskily told her.

"Your queen still has a deal to uphold and a loooooong shower to take." She reminded him. "And, then, please fuck me until I've forgotten our names."

"Of course. But, if I may make a small change to that, shower first." He told her honestly. "I want to be clean before you do that to me."

"That's fine." She hummed after a minute. "Mmmm. Bath… more importantly… bathtub sex."

He nodded. "Deal. We might make a mess of the bathroom though." He chuckled.

"Prestidigitate it clean my knight." She giggled, gripping onto him. "Woah, I thought the walk would sober me up."

He held her tightly, looking her over. "I have no idea what drink we got but they were strong." He said feeling tipsy himself. "And it will take me a bit, can only do a foot at a time." He chuckled.

"Gods, adventuring tomorrow might suck. I'm hangover bound." She admitted, stumbling a bit.

"We will get a simple job tomorrow then. That way you can cast lesser restoration if need be." he told her simply.

"Is it bad that I forgot I could do that?" She asked him.

"A little bit yeah." He chuckled at her. "You really are drunk now."

"Yeah… could drink more, but don't wanna mix whatever we had and the dwarven at home." She mumbled, trying to take out her house key with fumbling hands.

He stopped her, and used his key to unlock the door for her, gently swinging the door open. He gently guided her inside and shut and locked the door behind them.

While Astero was busy locking the door, Magdiana took no further prompting to begin stripping. In seconds, she was naked in the living room, clothes and daggers scattered all around. "Much better!"

Astero did a triple take, looking at her, the door, and all of her scattered clothes. "Okay…" He said holding up his hands. "You can barely open a door, but you can get naked in seconds." He said looking over her nakedness.

She sauntered forward, giving him a lopsided smirk. "I can get dressed just a fast." She promised.

He leaned in and hovered next to her mouth. "You are barely able to walk a straight line. You are a mystery to me." He smirked kissing her passionately.

"There's no mystery." She told him after the kiss. "All of the stuff that… that stays around when I'm like this is training. I could do target practice."

He smiled,a nd gently smacked her ass. "The only thing we are doing right now is going to take a bath." He told her, taking off his shirt and leading her to the bathroom.

She stumbled a bit headed up the stairs and leaned into him. "Sorry." She said sadly.

"Sorry for what?" He asked her curiously.

"I can't even walk properly." She pouted as they made it to the bathroom.

"Relax." he told her making her sit on the edge of the tub while he filled it with water. "If you're still drunk by the end, I will gladly carry you to bed." He said kissing her lightly, removing his clothes.

She leaned a hand down and tested the water. "Oh, As, it's so nice."

He smirked at her, and stopped the water a moment later. "It will be even nicer when we are both in it." He told her, gently grabbing her hand, and getting into the tub.

She held onto him and carefully sat down in his lap. She pulled his arms around her. "Just leave me like this forever."

He held her to him, sighing contently. "Yeah, this is nice." He said lightly kissing her neck, and grabbing a scrubby to wash her.

She sighed into his work with the scrub. "Ahh…" She whined. "You are magical."

He waggled his fingers and made them glow. "Just a bit." He joked, gently washing her body for her. His hands following her curves as he cleaned.

"In all the right ways." She smiled at him, leaning into his chest and resting her head there, eyes closing. "Sorry. I'm not letting you get super clean."

He shook her head at her. "Don't worry about it, I am a big boy, I can take care of myself." He smirked at her.

"As?" She asked quietly, eyes still closed.

"Yes, Mag?" He said, gently cleaning her legs.

"Umm," She paused for a long minute before huffing. "I'm probably not good to do stuff tonight. The bathtub is spinning."

He sighed a bit, but nodded. "It's okay. We can do it later, when you are sober." He told her honestly, continuing to clean her.

"Thank you." She sighed, curling into him and mumbling. "My Knight." Just moments before quiet snores overtook her.

Astero smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head. "Sleep well, My Queen." He quietly told her. He quietly cleaned the rest of her, before he lifted her up and gently set her down the bed, tucking her in for the time being. He went back to the tub, and cleaned himself quickly. He finished up, and emptied the water before drying off, and getting into bed next to the sleeping Magdiana. He held her close to him, and fell asleep quickly, sleeping soundly throughout the night.

Magdiana saw the sun filtering through the window and groaned, gripping her head. "Ouch." She whined from Astero's arms. She leaned into him heavily. "Ugh, why?"

Astero held her for a moment, looking down at her and chuckling. "Raze gave us strong drinks, and you are a cheap date." He said kissing her forehead to hopefully help with the pain.

"What did I do?" She asked him seriously. "I don't remember getting home."

He looked at her seriously. "We got home, and you stripped naked in seconds. Then we took a bath together, and you fell asleep in my arms in the tub, so I put you to bed." He said simply for her.

"Thank you." She whispered to him, kissing his lips firmly. "Thank you."

"Your welcome." He said kissing her back softly. "It is no big deal." He told her honestly.

"It is. Some women aren't as lucky as me." She held onto him tightly. "I love you."

"I love you." He told her, holding her close to him. "I would never do that to you." He said looking into her eyes.

"I know. I wasn't insinuating. Just… grateful." She sighed, grabbing her head again. "No more drinks from Raze."

"You have lesser restoration." He told her with a chuckle. "You don't have to suffer."

She thought about it. "Oh, I'm an idiot." She said, casting the spell and sighing in relief.

"No you are not." He told her with a kiss. "You were just hungover." He smirked.

She kissed him. "I didn't give you that blow job."

"No you did not." He smiled at her. "It can wait though." He told her.

"Shit. Adventure." She sighed. "I almost forgot."

He nodded. "Yeah. we will get an easy one today, so you won't need to cast spells." He told her.

"Easy won't get us stronger faster." She hummed sadly. "Sorry I screwed up."

"Did I say I was blaming you?" he asked her seriously. "You are fine, and we will get strong either way, it doesn't have to be physically taxing, hells, I had to study to get stronger." he told her honestly.

"I'm not sure how to do that for cleric stuff, though." She told him. "I'm not a prayer and devout offerings sort. Maybe, just maybe, working with my employer will help, but I don't know what else to do to get more power as far as Mask goes."

He raised the covers to look down at her naked body. "No you are not." He chuckled. "Mask is a god of trickery right? Have you thought about small harmless pranks?" He asked her.

"Pranks?" She sighed. "You think that would work?"

"Well, he is a god of thieves shadows, and tricky. So it is worth a shot, it couldn't hurt." He told her.

"I could try." She thought. "How do you get stronger, though? More study?"

"Yeah. Speaking of which I could learn another spell." He said to himself. He looked to her to finish answering her question. "Yes, and practicng it until it gets stupid annoying."

"Like when I learned Thaumaturgy?" She asked him.

"Yup." He told her. "Just keep doing it until you cant forget it." He said giving her a light kiss.

"Huh." She hummed. "Not how my spells work… yet."

"You will figure it out." He told her. "You just gotta have faith."

She hummed. "Still figuring that part out, but I trust Mask knows what he's doing."

"That is probably the best sign of faith… trusting a god of trickery." He chuckled.

"He gave me a dagger while I was alone and exhausted from not sleeping without you." She shrugged. "Call me stupid, but I trust him."

He kissed her nose, and smiled. "You are far from stupid." he told her honestly. "You are pretty insightful." He smirked at her.

She smiled, stealing a kiss from him. "I can be sometimes. Now, let's get some breakfast, and head out to adventure."

"That is fine with me." He said kissing her softly, and getting up to go get dressed.

She got dressed and looked around for her weapons. "Oh, I was really frisky yesterday night." She laughed.

"Yeah." He laughed. "By the time it took me to lock the door, you were already naked."

"I'm disappointed. My game is slipping." She joked. "Should've been faster."

"Then I hope you do better tonight." He smirked at her, as he went down to go get breakfast started.

She sat at the breakfast table and watched him work. "Thank you for cooking. You're the best."

"You are very welcome." He smiled at her. "Any preference on eggs?" He asked her, conversationally.

"Something runny that I can stop up with toast." She smiled.

He smiled. "Sunny side up it is." He said cracking the eggs into the hot pan, causing a sizzle to ring out.

"I think I just fell in love with you again." She smiled with a little swooning sigh.

"I didn't think it was possible to fall in love with the same person more than once. Short of amnesia of course." He joked.

She stood up and walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle and leaning her head on his back. "I fall more in love with you every day." She whispered for him only.

He smiled at her hug, and placed the food on a plate. He turned around in her arms, and gave her a kiss. "So do I." He told her honestly.

She picked up the plates and brought them to the table. "Thank you for always taking care of me."

He wiped his hands clean, and followed her to the table, sitting down next to her. "I always will." he told her.

She kissed him softly, not wanting to sour the mood with anymore words. She simply smiled and started to slowly eat. When she finished, she got up and started to clean the dishes without complaint.

Astero smiled watching her as she cleaned the dishes He stood up and walked over leaning against the counter next to her. "Thank you. I would've done those." He smiled at her.

"I know you can, but you shouldn't have to. We're partners." She kissed his nose.

He kissed her cheek. "Thank you. You are awesome." He said honestly.

She finished the dishes and dried her hands. "Let's go make money."

He nodded, and grabbed her hand. "By the time we are done with this guild, they won't be able to pay us anymore, we will have already done all the jobs." he chuckled.

"Especially if we go tomorrow like we planned." She laughed.

"Just don't get that guys spirits too high, otherwise I might have to break a finger or two." he told her honestly.

"I won't. Besides, I have Thaumaturgy. I'll scare him away if he tries anything." She giggled.

"I know. I just get defensive over my woman." He said putting an arm around her protectively. "A knight should protect his queen."

"Well, your queen is a battle queen, but I get your meeting." She stole a kiss. "Thank you."

He kissed her back. "You are welcome. My Battle Queen." He smiled at her.

She nudged him. "Let's just stick with queen. Now, stop stalling. Let's go."

"I'm following you." He chuckled following her out of the door.

She locked the door and grabbed his arm. "When you're at work again on second day, I'll go pay off the house."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. You are a lifesaver." he said with a smile. "This week is going to be busy for me, i might be home late several nights in a row." he told her honestly.

"Good thing I can make a mean grilled cheese." She laughed.

"Can you make tomato soup too?" He asked her seriously. "It is like the only way I will eat it." He chuckled.

"Yes, I can make tomato soup. I'm not a heathen." She made a face.

"Thank you." he said stealing a kiss. "You are too nice to me."

"I am not. I have stabbed you. I would still stab you, if necessary." She smirked.

"And so would I, if I needed to." He smirked back. "You are still much nicer now, than when we first met." He chuckled.

She glared at him. "I'm there same level of niceness. You have just gotten more on my good side than before."

"You have broken my fingers, and bit me several times… because i took your pencil." He deadpanned.

"I also stabbed you, poisoned you, broke your ribs, and given you a concussion. But, I won't… purposely do those things anymore. You've grown on me." She paused for a second. "Like a tumor."

"Don't remind me." He said making a face. "You gave me quite the medical bill growing up." He said rubbing a rib out of habit.

"Says the man who…" She blushed profusely and stopped talking.

"Who what?" He asked, looking at her seriously.

She sighed. "This is way too much information, but, uhh, you kinda… when we were sparring…" She made a noise and trailed off again.

He looked over her seriously, thinking of what she could be talking about. He hummed it over and leaned in. "What did I do?" He asked her seriously in a whisper.

She cleared her throat and whispered in his ear. "My, uh, hymen broke during one of our spars."

He blinked several times. "Oh." He said standing up straight.

"Yeah, oh." She pushed him playfully.

"In my defense, I didn't know. And I'm sorry." He told her honestly, looking off into the distance a bit. "We really did do a lot to each other." He said quietly.

She blew a laugh out her nose and shook her head. "Yeah, we did, and it's fine. At least it wasn't during sex or something equally wretched."

"Honestly, it is more of a first. I never really gave a girl her first time." He said looking to her. "So I am a little glad it was you." He smiled at her.

She gave him a sad smile. "I wish our first time could have been together."

He nodded at her. "Yeah. that would have been nice." He sighed. "My first time sucked."

"Mine was okay." She shrugged. "Nothing to write home about."

He shrugged. "Well it's in the past now." He sighed, continuing his walk to the guild.

They made it to the guild quickly, and she made sure to wink at the man behind the counter before they started going over the boards. After looking all of the options over, Magdiana frowned. "Well, none of these sound cool."

He looked them over and nodded in agreement. "You're right. we should get whichever one is the highest pay, and just go from there." He told her honestly.

"As long as we can manage without dying, I'm good." She responded. She found a paper that said 1000 gold pieces in red lettering. "Nice. How about this… babysitting job? What?"

"What?" He said looking over her shoulder. "1000 gold pieces to watch our daughter for the night." De looked at Mag curiously. "Daughter?"

"House better not be fucking haunted." She mumbled. "Let's do this."

He nodded. "For both our sakes i hope so." he sighed, leading the way out of the door. He looked at the paper, and paused for a moment. "This is next door to our house…" He told her, looking befuddled.

"Ah, shit. I know the house." She sighed. "Today's gonna fucking suck. I haven't even met the family, but I've heard them while tending the garden. Kid sounds like the biggest spoiled brat on the continent."

"Oh fuck…" he said facepalming himself. "Do you know the sleep spell?" He asked her seriously.

"I can calm emotions?" She replied, her voice growing in pitch.

"Ugh." he groaned. "I hate spoiled brats. I thought this might be an easy job."

"Compared to near death experiences, it is." She sighed. "I'm leaving pranks behind."

"Good. prank this kid while your at it too." He told her seriously.

She laughed. "That was my intent."

He smiled at her. "Good." He said stealing a kiss.

She kissed him back. "I hope you're prepared to bake cookies. I'm pretty sure I heard her demanding them once."

"That depends on how the parents are. If they are pompous and demand we meet all her needs, I will, begrudgingly, make cookies. If they are nice people, fuck that kid." He told her seriously.

"I honestly don't remember anything about the parents. I'm not sure they're around much." She frowned.

He sighed a bit. "Let's go see what we are dealing with first, before we jump to conclusions."

"We need to take the long way home, so they don't think we'll babysit all the time." She looked at him pleadingly. "I can't have a kid to watch while distilling poisons."

He nodded. "We will take a whole hour to get home, if it means we get our house to ourselves." he said, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

She squeezed his hand back. "If it were our own kid, I'd be less worried. Trying to explain to a stranger's kid not to touch that or they'll die… nope. Not happening."

"Yeah, exactly. I know we have a place for all that, but kids like to wander." He sighed, shaking his head a bit.

"We've gotta be careful with the secret door when… that happens." She blushed again.

"We will." he told her seriously. "All in due time." He said pulling her close.

She kissed his cheek. "At least, a few years. I don't want to be that couple."

"Agreed." He told her with a kiss. "I want to get over this paranoia, and actually learn to relax before we even think of kids."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I'd dropkick a kid if they came close to the bed in the middle of the night right now." She laughed.

"Mommy, can I- boom. Oh I'm sorry sweetie, you know you can't do that." He laughed pantomiming the scenario.

She burst into a fit of laughter and grabbed her gut. "As! You can't just do that. I can only take so much."

He laughed at her. "What? Its what would happen." He said jokingly.

She wiped a tear from her eye. "Yeah, but I almost choked on my own saliva you made me laugh so hard."

"You're welcome." He smiled at her.

She kissed him. "You're an ass, As." She leaned into his ear, grabbing his butt and squeezing. "My ass."

"Again, you're welcome." He sighed, giving her a long kiss before pulling away. "Now let's go hate the idea of kids." He chuckled.

"Other people's kids." She wrinkled her noise. "If nothing else, it's good birth control."

"Amen." He said grabbing her hand, and leading the way to their neighbors house. The first thing that they noticed before even walking to the door, was that the garden was much bigger than theirs, secondly, this house was bigger. "Well, I was not expecting this." he said, looking the place over.

She stole a kiss. "It's fine. They probably paid a small fortune for theirs. We paid copper by comparison."

"Yeah, more than likely." He nodded looking around, and walking to the door, knocking as he arrived.

Magdiana let go of his hand, wanting to put on a good face for their neighbors, and potential employers. She looked to Astero when nobody answered the door immediately, silently asking, 'Do we knock again?'

Just as Astero looked like he was about to act on that look, they heard the sounds of locks being undone, and a thin, wiry man with greying brown hair pulled back into a low tail greeted them. He wore fine, if worn, clothing. He looked jittery as he greeted them with a bow. "Ah, hello, there. You two must be from the guild." He seemed to sigh with relief at the sight of them, and he looked like he wanted to say more; however, he didn't speak. The man looked afraid.

"Ah, yes. We are." Astero nodded, reaching a hand out to shake the man's hand, but was quickly rebuffed by the man pushing it away.

"No. No. None of that." He said. "You'll want to speak with Gwendolyn. She's the girl's mother, and will give you all the instructions that you need."

Magdiana looked to the man, and, then, back to Astero. She seemed a little concerned, given how ragged the man looked. "What's your name?" She asked conversationally.

"Markus Eberhart, at your service." He bowed once more, backing away, and leading them through the enormous foyer and into a small den where an elven woman in a beautiful paisley pink floral dress was quietly sipping tea and nibbling on a scone. She looked up at the three who entered the room and beamed at the two next to Markus. Before she could speak, Markus bowed to her, and gestured to Magdiana and Astero. "My lady, these two were sent here from the guild to look after little Dazy."

The blonde elf looked between the two of them before dismissing Markus with a simple wave. "Please, have a seat." She smiled at them, gesturing to the tea tray. "Help yourselves."

Magdiana eyed the tray before giving in and pouring herself a cup of tea. When she'd finished adding a touch of honey, she sipped it and hummed. "Thank you."

Astero politely declined the offer, looking at the woman expectantly. "We were hoping to get some details?"

Magdiana nodded. "Yes, please. How come you hire adventurers instead of sitters?"

"Let's start by you two telling me your names first." She chastised in a bright tone that was a little bit unsettling for the two of them.

Magdiana looked to Astero before responding. "I'm Magdiana… Vosson, and this is my husband, Astero."

Astero looked like he might try to say something, but he remained silent, waiting for the woman to respond. "Well, Mr. & Mrs. Vosson, thank you for taking the job. I'm not familiar with that family name. Are you from around here?"

"No, we moved here from Yutan a couple months ago." Astero responded honestly.

"Lovely." She smiled, sipping her tea. "Well, you two, my name is Gwendolyn Drakon, and this has been my home for the past three centuries. Now, you'll be looking after my little Dazgawyn. She can be a bit of a handful now that she's come into her powers, but she really is a sweet girl if you can get around the rough edges."

Gwendolyn smirked at the two of them. "Now, I have business to attend to, and won't be back until the early hours of the morning. Markus will show you the guest room, and make sure that all of your needs are catered for as far as food goes. She's on a strict diet at the moment, and felt l can't have anything besides what Markus makes. Do you have any questions?"

Magdiana looked to Astero before shaking her head. "No, ma'am, I think we have it well in hand."

"Wonderful!" Gwendolyn smiled at the two of them. "You two have a lovely day with Dazy, and I will see you in the morning."

With that, the woman stood, exiting the room. However, under her breath, she said something in a language that made Magdiana's ear twitch. The half-elf turned to Astero and whispered, "Uh, I think we just spoke with a Polymorphed dragon."

Astero groaned, covering his face. "Fucking great."

She smiled at him with a lopsided smile, brushing hair out of his face. "Don't worry. We've got this." She stood up, offering him her hand. "Let's go meet Dazy."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I GOTTA LISTEN TO THEM?!" A small child's voice could be heard bellowing from down the hallway.

Magdiana winced, looking at Astero with apologetic eyes. "One thousand gold." She whispered to him reassuringly.

Several hours later, and two castings of calm emotions later, Magdiana sat down on Dazy's bed, rubbing her back as she fell asleep. Once she was well on her way to dreamland, Magdiana stealthily exited the room. She wiped her brow as the door closed, and sat on the floor outside of the room. "Who would've guessed that a three year old half-dragon could wild shape?" She whispered to an exhausted looking Astero.

Astero looked at his singed clothing. "Who would've guessed that she could breathe fire at the same age?"

"Thank Mask for sanctuary." Magdiana sighed, grabbing his hand and rubbing it with her thumb. She looked over at him with sad eyes. "You go to bed. I'll stay up."

He sighed softly as he looked her over. "I can keep going for a little longer. I don't want you by yourself if she wakes up." He told her honestly, still in shock about the girl.

"Okay. Please, just don't hurt yourself." She told him, looking at the door wearily. "Let's go eat, now."

"I hope they don't mind us using the kitchen." He told her, starting to make his way to the kitchen.

She laughed. "Gwendolyn said food was taken care of, so I'm sure it's fine."

"With all of the craziness. I kind of forgot." He laughed.

They walked into the kitchen, and found Markus sitting at the counter, hand shaking while wearily sipping at a tumbler of amber colored liquid. He looked at the two of them and immediately stood upright, walking to the fridge. "Let's get you two some food."

Astero waved at him. "Please sit down and enjoy your drink." He told him gesturing for him to sit. "I am a chef I can cook." He chuckled at the older gentleman.

The old man's eyebrow raised. "I thought you two were adventurers?"

"We are, on the weekends." He said honestly. "Got to stay busy and all that."

Markus waved. "Suit yourself, then. Just don't use the steaks. There should be plenty of everything else."

Magdiana looked at Astero for a second before speaking. "You know I'll eat anything." She started to leave the room slowly. "While you're doing that, I'm going to go clean up the play room a bit."

Astero nodded at her and began to start throwing something together. He decided for a pasta dish since was faster. He turned to Markus. "Pasta sound good? " He asked, getting three plates out for food.

The man shrugged. "Oh, why not? There's alcohol in that cabinet if you want to make it a vodka sauce."

"Oh yeah, that sounds good." He smiled, moving to get the alcohol. "After that kid, I can see why you drink like that." He chuckled lightly.

"It is simultaneously terrifying and rewarding." He groaned, taking a large gulp of alcohol. "You two best be careful. You were her best sitters yet."

"Mission accomplished." Magdiana smiled as she walked back into the room and took a seat.

"Best sitters? And why be careful? Are you saying that why might be asked to do this again?" He asked, as he made the adult sauce, and mixed it with the meat.

Markus sighed. "She may ask for you by name in the future."

Astero looked at the food he was making, then to magdiana. "Would you be willing to do this again?" he asked with a sigh, before looking to Markus. "If so, we will need a lot more of this." he said holding up the bottle of alcohol.

"Honestly, I don't mind it." Magdiana shrugged. "It's good pay and better than near death experiences."

Markus raised his eyebrows at her. "Well, that's a first." He offered her a tumbler and filled it. "You've earned this."

Magdiana took the glass and sipped. "As, I think the majority of this will be yours since I had a hangover this morning."

"That's fine by me." he told her, quickly plating the food. "Well, if you are liking this, i am in too. But only weekends." he told Markus seriously.

"That won't be a problem. Gwendolyn's husband should return during the week. The little one is much calmer with him around."

Magdiana bit into the food and sighed. "Thank you, As. It's phenomenal, as always."

Markus took a bite. "This is better than my cooking."

"Your very welcome." He smiled as he took a bite himself. "Good idea on the vodka sauce, really pulls it together." Astero sighed contently, enjoying his food.

"You're welcome." Markus smiled, finishing his tumbler and meal swiftly. "Anyhow, I'm off to bed. Sleep well, if you get the chance."

Magdiana waved, methodically chewing before saying, "Night."

"Sleep well, Markus. You deserve it." Astero said, raising a glass to him and taking a drink.

Magdiana turned to Astero. "Are you going to sleep tonight?"

He turned to look at mag seriously. "Probably not." He told her. "At least not until we get home anyways, then I will pass out."

"Alright." She frowned. "That makes two of us. I think guild jobs are off the table for tomorrow. Yeah?"

He nodded. "Yeah, when all is said and done. Sleep is more important." He said, grabbing her hand.

"It's alright, dear husband. We can have a lie in." She smirked.

"I think we deserve it." He smirked back. "Dear wife."

"Sorry about that, by the way." She told him. "I figured from the looks and sounds of her that she would know my last name, and I just didn't want to deal with it."

"You're fine." He said leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. "We can keep a low profile, especially if my last name is anything to go by." He told her with a small frown. "Sorry about that, by the way."

She held his cheek. "I will happily take your name and every connotation that goes with it. We'll make sure that what Rivin has done to it gets undone."

"Thank you." He whispered to her, leaning his head into her hand. "Still not sure what I did to deserve you." He smiled at her.

"I just love this." She gestured to all of him.

He chuckled. "You flatter me so." He said lightly kissing the back of her hand.

"Says the original flatterer." She giggled.

"I was barely even trying." He said, waving her off. "You would fall for me all over again if I actually tried to impress you." He chuckled at her.

"My heart couldn't take it. I'd be overwhelmed." She smiled, finishing her meal. "Gods, in wish there was dessert."

He looked at her, and looked to the kitchen. "I think there is some fruit in there. Not much, but at least one for the both of us." He told her honestly.

"Fruit works." She nodded. "I'm PMSing so hard. I need sugar. Any sugar."

"Fruit it is." He smiled and stood up to get the fruit she wanted. "Here you go dear." He said handing her an apple.

She smiled and happily bit into the juicy fruit. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled, taking a bit of his own apple.

She leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment. "We'll probably do this one day, too. Stay up at night to spend time together without kids."

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah we will. When we get a proper break." He said leaning on her a little.

"One day, but not for a good long while." She smiled, kissing his cheek. She looked down the hallway. "I'm nervous that a small angry half-dragon is going to come screaming down to the kitchen."

"I am hoping she doesn't." he told her honestly, looking down the hallway as well. "If we do this again, we might have to lay down some ground rules with little dazy." He chuckled a bit.

"We will." She sighed. "Also," She got very quiet. "I hate her name's meaning."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What does it mean?" He asked not knowing the language.

She made a face. "I mean, they added a bit of elvish flair with the 'wyn' ending, but it basically means princess."

"Are you saying that they named the half-dragon druid… princess." He deadpanned, making sure he heard her correctly.

Magdiana nodded. "Yep." She popped the 'p'. "Let's please just choose normal names when we get to that."

"Yeah, and short names. That way they won't suffer the same fate as you." He smirked at her.

"Ten syllables!" She complained. "At least my surrogate parents were just a single syllable."

"Both of my parents were two slyables. I guess that runs in my family." He joked.

She smiled. "That doesn't bother me. Let's just not stick a defenseless child with learning the entire alphabet just to spell their name."

"Or a different alphabet." He chuckled. "No elven names, they are pretty, but also hard as fuck to pronaunce." He told her.

"And no draconic or infernal. Way too much rumbling and phlegm necessary." She laughed.

"And also terrifying to hear a three year old speak infernal. I would almost kick one if they did that." He laughed.

"Another dropkick moment." She giggled. "I really don't want to wind up kicking our kids unless it's a spar."

"Don't worry. If it comes to it. I will train you out of it." He told her with a smile.

She kissed him. "We're both already better. Getting better everyday."

"Yes we are." He said, holding her close to him. "You will need to get used to wearing clothes before bed though." He told her honestly.

She waved a hand. "That's not a problem. I can wear clothes. I just prefer not to. I sleep better cold."

"Good to know." he nodded at her. "Ice baths help you sleep, got it" He joked.

She nudged him. "You're evil." She complained. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He said kissing her cheek.

"What are we going to do for the rest of the night?" She asked him.

He looked around and shrugged a bit. "I am fine with talking with you, I don't really want to rummage around the house for a puzzle." He told her honestly.

"No puzzles until the one at home is done." She chuckled, getting a conspiratorial look. "I pranked the dollhouse." She whispered to him.

He covered his mouth to quiet the laugh that hit him. "You are evil, and I love you." He smiled at her, giving her a kiss.

"All of the shit will fall over when she opens it." She told him with a giggle.

"She will be pissed." He chuckled quietly.

"We won't be here." Magdiana shrugged.

"We might still hear it." He told her honestly.

She chuckled. "Oh, I'm counting on it… this is going to sound bad… the sweet screaming of a spoiled brat."

"We will teach her manners. If we do this again." He smiled.

"I'm really not against it. It's good… no, great… money, and, once she gets used to us, I bet it gets easier." She smiled.

"If she plays her cards right, I will even make her cookies." he smiled at mag. "And I will be sure to make sure you some as well. You will get a special batch." he told her.

"Thank you, As." She smiled, kissing him. "Just be sure to check with Markus on what she's allowed to eat."

"Of course." He nodded. "I will ask before we leave tomorrow, that way I will have a list."

She facepalmed. "And, check allergies. I can't believe I didn't think about it sooner."

"Yeah." he paused for a moment. "That must suck, being a half dragon but allergic to something as simple as bread, or something similar."

"My former best friend was allergic to eggs. I would fucking die." She groaned.

"That blows, eggs are used in a lot of things." He frowned a bit.

She nodded. "I remember her watching me eat a cookie once. I'm pretty sure she would have cast power glare kill or some shit if she could."

"Does not surprise me. But I did eat Pb&j's even though I am allergic." He chuckled.

"I know." She frowned. "I really don't like how quick your breathing got fucked up."

"Then be lucky you only saw the beginning of it." he told her seriously. "When it hits its peak, i cant talk, I literally just have to focus on breathing."

Her eyes watered. "Please, no."

"It will never get to that." he told her reassuringly. "I won't eat them when you are not around, and even then it will be a once in a while."

"Okay." She sighed. "I love you, and I really don't like it when you get that way. It's bad enough when you get sick normally."

He thought it over for a moment. "When did you see me sick?" He asked her curiously. "I haven't been sick since we got here."

"As, the last time you got the flu or whatever and had that ridiculous fever, who brought to soup and cures?" She asked him seriously.

"Oh… I didn't know that was you… I was seeing shit, and I thought you were an angel." he laughed, being truthful as he said it.

She hugged him. "That makes a lot of sense. You called me your mom's name."

He smiled into the hug. "Well, you do remind me a bit of her. She was fierce." He smiled.

"I don't blow stuff up, though." She giggled.

"You obliterated that target at your parents house." he laughed.

"That was just a smite, though." She waved a hand. "I don't make large explosions."

"Yet." He added looking her over. "You still have a ways to go."

She made a face. "Do clerics blow shit up?"

"I mean… pretty sure your mom can, so I don't see why you can't." He said shrugging a bit.

"She can?" She asked, thinking about it. "I don't remember her doing anything like that."

"I haven't seen it myself. I am only guessing. But if any cleric could do it, it would be her." he nodded.

She chuckled. "I'm glad that we're the same domain, at least. I don't want to imagine what I'd do trying to figure this all out on my own."

He hummed it over for a minute. "I think you would be crying in a corner somewhere." he joked, playfully nudging her.

"Not crying, but still very frustrated." She groaned. "This whole thing has been ridiculously overwhelming."

"At least you have a guide. And a good friend to keep you focused." he smiled.

She giggled. "You, sir, are the opposite of focus."

"Yes, I can be very… distracting." He said, whispering huskily into her ear.

She placed a hand on his shoulder to push him away. "We are not doing anything the likes of that in a stranger's house, Mr. Distracting."

"I wasn't planning on it." he told her honestly. "Especially not if the owner, and our neighbor, is a dragon." He said looking at her seriously.

"I'm pretty sure she is based on what she said as she left the room earlier." She whispered.

"Then, I really don't want to risk it." he whispered back. "I was only teasing."

"I'm sure." She giggled. "I am pretty curious what Day's father is like since he… a dragon."

"It is probably the reason why Dazy quiets down when he is around." he guessed.

She nodded. "You're right. Huh. Must be something special."

"Or terrifying." he shivered a bit. "She seemed pretty fearless, it would take a lot to make her stay quiet." he said looking at her a bit nervously.

"What's terrifying?" An elvish man in a black coat and gloves said from behind them.

Astero jumped up to his feet, and turned to see the man. "Oh, hello sir." he said looking the man over. "My name is Astero, and this is Magdiana. We are the sitters for Dazgawyn." He said extending his hand. "You must be her father."

Magdiana followed Astero's lead, extending her hand. She was so startled she said without thinking, "Pleased to meet you," in draconic.

The elvish man chuckled, shaking their hands. "And Gwendolyn has managed to harang the neighbors into watching our girl this time?"

Astero blinked for a moment. "Uh, no actually. We got the job from the guild in town. We only realised we were neighbors after we took the job." He chuckled lightly.

"Well, there's no fires, so that's an improvement." He looked around, commenting on the state of the place. "Thank you two for dealing with whatever was next door, by the way. Didn't have time to deal with it personally."

"It was just a bunch of cult members." Astero told the man. "We were done in a few hours."

"I'm sorry." Magdiana eyed him. "But, we were under the impression that you wouldn't be here until during the week. No offense, but I'm not letting you near Dazy."

The man sized her up in but a second. "Rogue. Cleric. With too many daggers. You couldn't stop me if you tried."

Astero looked to mag in awe, before he looked to the man. "And what about the two of us?" he asked him a bit more seriously.

"Just another run of the mill Eldritch Knight." He shrugged. "Simple enough to deal with. Now, go get some rest. I'll make sure Gwendolyn pays you the full amount."

Astero looked to mag, and raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to go get sleep?" He asked her, glancing at the man as he did so.

"No, I'll be staying right here until Gwendolyn gets back." Magdiana sounded like she was daring the man to try something.

"Alright." Astero sighed a bit. "I guess we are staying here until gwen shows up then." He said looking to the man. "If you don't mind, sir."

The man shrugged. "Suit yourselves. I'm going to go rest."

Astero watched as the man casually walked past them and into the upper floor of the house. He turned to mag and looked her over seriously. "Are you mad?" He asked her curiously.

"No. I'm not leaving a child alone with someone who might not actually be her father, As." She explained.

"Okay, well either he actually is her father, and is more than likely a dragon, given the confidence he pisses. Or we just let a random stranger into the house." He told her with a look that was best described as mild confusion mixed with shocked.

"Well, their daughter can't be a half dragon if one of them isn't an elf, so which one is Polymorphed?" She whispered urgently.

He thought it over for a long moment. "The dad." He told her honestly. "He knew we were neighbors, and about the house before we got it. Also he seemed like it wasn't that big of a deal to him. So either he is really strong, or a dragon." He whispered back to her in equal haste.

Magdiana sighed, and followed the man upstairs quickly. "Gods, I'm an idiot."

Astero stood up and followed her. "Mag, what are you doing?" He asked her nervously.

"Apologizing. Dragons are proud. I basically just insulted him." She whispered.

"Please don't get hurt." He told her honestly.

"You can come if you want to make sure my body makes it back to my mother to revive." She offered.

He made a face, and followed her faster. "Stop talking that way!" He silently yelled.

"There is a sleeping half-dragon in the house. Be quiet." She said just as loudly as they made it to the elven man's side. "Uh, I…" Magdiana slipped into draconic. "Please accept my apologies, great fiery one."

The man turned to them and laughed at her. "Just now figuring it out? I thought you'd be smarter."

Astero raised his hand a bit. "I figured it was you. Gwendolyn seemed too normal. You have a confidence about you." He said apologetically. "Also sorry."

He looked between them. "Apology accepted. Now, get out of here before I change my mind about the state of how you'll be leaving."

"Yes sir." Astero nodded, grabbing magdiana and leading the way home. "Have a wonderful night." He said as he left.

Magdiana gripped Astero's hand firmly. "Well, I can say that I've done something to earn my namesake."

"Yes, yes you have." He told her firmly, as he nearly dragged her out of their house and to their own.

Magdiana didn't relax until they were in bed, collapsing into it with a groan. "Our neighbor is a dragon, and I just insulted him to his face."

Astero fell face first onto the bed. He sighed deeply, and looked to her. "Yes you did, also i feel a lot safer knowing that our neighbor is a dragon." He said feeling the tension in his shoulders relax.

"Gods, I'm glad Dazy was gold right now." Magdiana shivered.

"Yeah… I just hope she grows out of her… phase." He sighed, letting out a long yawn.

"Actually… if you think of what she's doing as draconic and not elvish… it makes sense." Magdiana tilted her head as she thought out loud. "Demanding things… food, toys… it's all just hoarding."

He thought about it for a moment. "You're right… she is just a young dragon. She is doing what is natural." He said staring off into the distance.

Magdiana giggled. "Oh, that's adorable."

He chuckled. "Yeah, that kinda is." He smiled at her.

Magdiana curled into his chest. "Alright. Sleep, please."

"I will certainly try." He told her with a yawn. "It might take me a bit to just process everything is all." He told her honestly.

"Sorry. I'm just suddenly exhausted. That was more terrifying than looking a lich in the face." She kissed his cheek.

"You're fine." he told her as he shut his eyes. "It was a taxing day, between half-dragons and full dragons. As well as alcohol pasta sauce. I don't blame you." He quietly chuckled to himself.

She kissed him. "Goodnight, As. Love you."

He kissed her back lightly. "Love you, too." He yawned, his head still going over the day.

A few minutes later, Magdiana was lightly snoring into his chest, holding him like an overgrown teddy bear.

Astero smiled, his eyes still closed. He enjoyed the feeling of her breath on his skin, and it helped him relax. He thought about the idea of the neighbor being a dragon, and was trying to figure out if maybe Rivin knew about that. Was he helping him? It seemed highly unlikely, but knowing Rivin and his games, it was possible. He shook his head, and pulled nag close to him. It was late and he needed sleep. In short order he was dreaming, and sleeping soundly.

Neither of the pair woke with the dawn as usual. Instead, it was midmorning by the time Astero's exhausted snores finally woke Magdiana. She glanced at him, smiling softly before rolling him to quiet this snores slightly. She stayed in his arms, lightly stroking his skin with her fingers until he started to wake. "Good morning." She whispered.

Astero stretched widely, his arms wrapping around her as he did so. "Mmm. good morning." He whispered to her, enjoying her closeness.

She kissed the underside of his chin softly. Her hands trailed down his body. "I love you."

He smiled at her, and gently kissed her forehead. "I love you." He ran his fingers down her side sighing at the feeling of her cooler skin. "You are cold."

"You're warm." She said, leaning into him. "You should help me warm up."

He wrapped his arms around her tighter, and lifted her on top of him. "There, heat rises, that should help." He smiled draping the blanket over her head like a hood.

She pulled down the blanket, looking up at him. "The things I could do to you with nothing but this blanket…"

He raised an eyebrow at her, and smiled. "Oh really? And what pray tell would you do?" He chuckled.

She sat up, legs straddling his hips, grabbing the ends and handing them to him. The blanket was still draped around her shoulders. "Just pull the corners, and you can basically make me fuck you as hard as you want."

He grabbed the ends, and looked up at her for a second, before gently pulling on the blanket. He felt her move into him. He smiled at her. "Oh that could be fun." He said pulling a few more playful times.

Magdiana moaned, looking down at him with lustful eyes. "As…" She murmured to him, adjusting on top of him.

He leaned up and gave her a small kiss, pulling the blanket to meet her. "All you had to do was ask." He smirked, lying back down, and pulling rhythmically on the blanket now.

Magdiana's hands clamored for the waistband of his boxers, and her hands found and stroked him several times. She moaned feeling desperate for a little release. "As." She sighed, unable to form any other words at the moment.

Astero let out a sigh, as he felt her hands stroke him a bit. He pulled the blanket a bit faster, and watched her face as his movements affected her. "I love you, Mag." He whispered to her.

Magdiana removed her hands from him, moving her underwear aside and lowering down onto him. She sighed. "I love you." She told him.

He closed his eyes for a moment, as he felt her slide down on him. He pulled own on the blanket a bit harder, feeling her move due to his actions. He let out a small moan. "You are smart for thinking of this." He smiled at her, pulling her faster now.

"Think of what it could do to other positions." She told him, fucking him at the pace he dictated, and moaning throughout the whole thing. "Ahh!" She groaned when he hit a place she particularly enjoyed.

A smirk took his face at her groan, and he repeated the same motion several times over. "I like that noise." He smirked.

"Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!" She groaned for him. "As… more. Close."

He nodded to her, and wrapped his hands around the blanket a bit. He kept the same motions but was now going harder and faster. The blanket was slightly shorter now, and was making him fuck her deeper. He felt a wave of pleasure hit him hard. "So am I." He told her closing his eyes tro enjoy the feeling of her around him.

She shook on top of him, screaming out his name as she climaxed above him, fucking him until he felt him fill her before collapsing into him and holding him tightly. "Fuck. I love you."

He came deep into her, and nearly saw stars. He held her as she slumped on top of him. "Fuck." he panted. "I love you, too." He said catching his breath for a moment.

"Breakfast?" She asked, panting still.

He panted and nodded at her. "Yeah… but one thing first." he said waving his hand over her and casting the spell. "Better." He sighed, still catching his breath.

"Thanks. I forgot." She said honestly.

He shook his head slightly and kissed her. "And it's a good thing I didn't. I love this, and don't want to have it make things too early." He said bucking slightly into her, before gently rolling her off of him. "Now, lets get breakfast." He smiled at her.

She stole a kiss from him, looking into his eyes. "Thank you. I'm sorry." She rolled out of bed, dressing fast and heading downstairs to assess the contents of the fridge.

He quickly got dressed and followed mag down stairs. He glanced around the kitchen before pulling down some cereal and milk. "I'm thinking light today." He told her, pouring the cereal into a bowl.

She smiled. "That's fine." She looked down at herself. "Why did I dress for adventure? Now, I feel silly. I totally forgot."

"You still look good to me." He smiled at her, taking a bite of cereal.

She smiled and kissed him, taking a bit of cereal for herself. "We do need to go get paid for yesterday, I guess."

"Well Mr…. Our neighbor who is a dragon, and we probably should have gotten his name… Said that he would make sure Gwen got us the money, so I am in no rush." He told her honestly.

"Works for me." She shrugged, taking another bite. "Well, we know his very transparent last name. Gods, it's so obvious. How do people not know?"

"People are idiots." he deadpanned. "Remember your old coworker at the shop? I went by there once, and I shit you not, she didn't even know how to count coin." He told her seriously.

Magdiana frowned. "I feel badly about leaving Charlie like I did, but he was literally going to kill me with that schedule."

He rubbed her hand. "It's fine. You two left on good terms, and he was understanding. At least you didn't just up and quit." He explained.

"Like leaving Yutan?" She asked quietly. "I'm sorry we left so quick. I wish we had that picture of your parents."

He sighed a bit. "It's okay. Maybe I can ask The King if he can get it for me." He half smiled at her. "Neither of us were expecting it."

"Actually, here's an idea…" She trailed off for a moment. "Hey, Rivin, we would like the picture of your parents to be returned to Astero as a wedding gift." She looked around the room, looking for a scrying sensor. "Hopefully, that's good enough."

Astero chuckled at her. "That would be a nice gift." He smiled looking at Mag, before looking around the room. "Thank you." He said stealing a kiss from her.

"You're welcome." She smiled. "Hopefully, he'll get the message.I mean… we are married, you know." She giggled.

"I think to be married." He corrected her. "Still need to have a ceremony." He smiled, taking another spoonful of cereal.

"Yeah, but, for all he knows, what I said was true." She shrugged, kissing him as she finished her cereal. "What's the plan for today?"

"I really don't have one." he told her honestly, drinking the milk from the bowl and looking at her. "Between getting our gold, and relaxing, I don't have a plan."

She cringed at him drinking the milk. "Eww. That's my least favorite part of cereal." She commented. "Alright, well, can we please work on the damn puzzle. It not being finished is literally killing me. With knives."

"But it tastes so good." he chuckled at her. "Yeah let's see if we can put a good dent in it." he smiled, taking her bowl and going to quickly was them.

She moved to the living room and started to piece together another boat. "I swear, we're going to be married with kids before we finish this."

"I don't know what sort of deific magic is used in your odd image there, but that is highly doubtful." he chuckled, walking over and sitting down next to her, putting a few pieces into piles.

"Seriously, it's like we purposely get interrupted every time we-" She paused as a knock sounded at the door. "Someone is getting stabbed."

Astero laughed at the timing, and got up. "I will get it, you make sure it is being done." He smiled giving her a small kiss, before going to the door. "Hello?" He asked opening the door.

A familiar elven man stood before Astero as the door opened, a smug smile gracing his features. "Hello, neighbor. May I borrow a cup of sugar?"

Astero paused for a moment, before he laughed a good bit. "Yes, please. Come in." He said holding the door open for him.

He strode in with a confidence that practically bespoke of owning the place and stood, assessing the room and its inhabitants. He looked to the woman working on the puzzle on the floor. "Magdiana." He nodded to her, placing a pouch of something on the table. "Your pay, my dear. By the way, it's lovely to finally meet you. Your grandmother was a good friend."

Magdiana's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "She was?" She asked at a high pitch before clearing her throat and repeating, "She was?"

The man smirked. "Indeed. I see a lot of her in you, especially last night." He let out a rumbling laugh. "It's been almost a century since anybody has looked at me with that fire."

Astero shut the door, and sighed with a small smile. "It really is a small world." He chuckled.

"Mr. Drakon?" Magdiana asked quietly, standing up to look at him steadily. "May I ask-? We never learned your name."

He waved a hand. "Call me Lumillon." He looked between the two of them with a neutral expression before taking a seat in one of the sitting chairs, crossing a leg over the other and looking right at home. "I have an offer for the pair of you."

"Well, Lumillon, you have our attention." Magdiana told him, taking a seat and waiting for him to speak.

Astero sat down next to Magdiana and looked at Lumillon intently. "Please, go ahead."

"Gwendolyn was quite pleased by how well you handled Dazy, and, I admit, I'm impressed." He made a face and waved a hand, downplaying the compliment. "We'd like to hire you on for a once per week job at the same rate, unless you'll accept other forms of payment."

Astero blinked a bit and looked at Magdiana. "I think it is a good deal, what about you?" He asked her seriously.

Magdiana nodded. "We're in. I'm not sure about other forms of payment, though. I'll need to research all of that."

"Unless he means like items or the like?" Astero asked Lumillon. "Like rare spices?" He offered.

Lumillon shrugged. "It is in my power to get you many a thing, if desired. Though, I was meaning consumables such as saliva and the like. It could fetch you a hefty sum to the right buyer."

"I don't know enough about it to know what to ask for." Magdiana looked to Astero. "But, we'll think about it. Yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded, looking at Mag, and then to Lumillon. "Also… I have a question for you." He said hesitantly.

He waved a hand. "By all means."

"Are… are you working with a man named Rivin?" He asked, hoping he would say no.

A mote of flame came out of the man's elven looking nostrils. "Do not use that name in my presence. That pawn thought he could use me for his own means. If I were to meet him again, I would strike him down before he could open his foul mouth."

The color faded from Asteros face. "No then." He said at a whisper. "Good to know."

Magdiana grabbed and rubbed Astero's arm. "If you meet him again, leave a piece for us. We have some aggressions of our own to work out."

"That will be difficult." Lumillon muttered darkly. He looked between the two of them. "I'll leave you two to your day." He shook both of their hands. "I will see you next week." He turned to look directly at Magdiana again. "Do try to prank something less obvious next time."

"Y- yes, sir." Magdiana whispered nervously.

"Have a wonderful day, Lumillon." Astero said to him, standing up as he did. "We will see you next week. Thank you for the opportunity." He said, summoning as much courage as he could muster.

Lumillon smirked, and strode confidently out the door. "Buh-bye, now, neighbors!" He called to them just as the door shut behind him.

Magdiana walked over and locked the door behind him before practically falling into Astero's arms. "Our neighbor is terrifying." She whispered.

Astero held her in his arms for several moments before he spoke. "I damn near shat myself." He said honestly, whispering to her.

"C- can we just build this damn puzzle, already? Please?" She sighed tiredly.

"Yeah, let's do the puzzle." He sighed, rubbing her back.

Magdiana sat down at the table again, finishing the boat she was working on and attaching it to the puzzle. "One more interruption, and there will be murders, As."

"Then let's build this bitch." He chuckled.

"I'm answering the door next." She offered, moving the pouch Lumillon had brought out of the way and feeling its weight. "The fuck?" She mumbled before opening it and gaping. "Oh. Oh, shit. That's a diamond."

"What?" He asked her curiously, moving next to to look at the pouch. "Holy shit." He said in shock.

"I've never seen one this big. What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into?" She asked, flabbergasted.

He looked at the gem for a long moment before he looked at Mag. "I'm not sure if it is the best job, or the worst."

"Can it be both?" She asked him seriously.

"I think this qualifies as both." He nodded.

She sighed, pocketing the diamond. "Well, at least, I'll be able to revive you, if necessary."

He made a face. "Please don't talk that way."

She blushed. "Sorry. I'm just… scared. I feel like I've been scared for months now."

"I know." He said putting an arm around her. "I am too."

She hugged him, sighing and holding him as tears escaped her control. "I love you, As. I love you."

"I love you, too, Mag." He said holding her tightly. "Until the end." He wiped tears out of her eyes.

She cried into him for several minutes. When she finally calmed down, she pulled away sightly. "Thank you. I don't know where that came from." She sniffed.

"It's okay. We have been through a lot." He sighed, stroking her hair. "It's only natural to have our moments."

She held him, kissing him and whispering in his ear. "Let's just, please finish the damn puzzle today."

He smiled at her. "Yes, let's finish the damn thing."

She wiped her eyes and face going back to work on the perpetual project, quietly working at his side with a small smile as the puzzle started to come together.

He helped her put the puzzle together, smiling as he worked as well. He quickly put the skyline in it's place.

Magdiana worked for another half hour before she stood up. "Do you want anything to drink?" She asked him.

He stretched for a bit before he nodded. "Yes, please, I am not picky." He told her honestly.

"Sounds good." She smiled, going to the kitchen and returning with two fruity looking drinks, giving him one of them and sitting beside him. "I got creative with what we had. Tasted okay." She winced at the strong overwhelming quality of dwarven whiskey with the fruity mixture.

Astero took a sip, and gave a small cough. "But is it strong enough?" He asked her jokingly.

"After everything lately?" She asked him seriously. "No."

He chuckled. "Well, I am not complaining. It might help me relax." He said, taking another sip.

She looked over at him, sighing. "I won't lie to you… I'm medicating. I'm in pain."

"It's okay. I am glad you are honest." He smiled at her. "If there is any way I can help, just let me know."

She took a drink, kissing him. "Not really. Just exercise and hot baths and whatnot."

"Then I will cuddle you as best I can." He nodded at her, pulling her close. He put a few pieces together.

She leaned into him, groaning a bit. "I don't think I can build it anymore. Maybe, I should just go take a bath and call it a day."

"If you want to, I will not stop you." He said, giving her a small kiss on the head. "Go relax." He whispered to her.

She whined a bit and nodded. "Okay." She got up sorely and ambled upstairs where, a few minutes later, the sounds of the water running could be heard.

Astero put a bit more of the puzzle together, before he stopped. He cleaned the pieces up a bit and brought the drinks up to the bedroom, before laying down on the bed. Relaxing a bit while Mag bathed.

Magdiana dozed off a bit before she awoke enough to dry off and go into the bedroom. She didn't bother to dress, simply laying down next to Astero and holding him close. She sipped her drink, enjoying the slightly numbing effect of the alcohol. She kissed Astero's cheek. "I love you." She mumbled.

"I love you." He said holding her close to him. He smelled her hair a bit. "Mmmmm. Peaches." He sighed, enjoying the smell.

"I'm glad you like it." She smiled into him. She grabbed her middle. "Ugh. I wish it would just start already. It might be a relief."

He gently rolled her over, and rubbed her stomach. "Don't worry. You will be fine."

"I know." She sighed, drinking some more. "Just sucks, but that feels nice."

He continued to gently rub her tummy, making small circles. He took a small drink before looking down at her. "I know it will be a while before we have kids, but it will be weird seeing you with a big belly." He smiled down at her.

She chuckled. "I'm a little weird about that myself. I don't know how I feel about that part. I honestly can't even imagine not seeing my toes."

He giggled at her. "With how flexible you are, I doubt you will have that problem."

"I mean just by looking down." She chuckled. "Of course, I'll be able to bend over and whatnot."

"And no matter how you look, I will still love you regardless." He smiled at her, kissing her on the cheek softly.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of his closeness. "And, I will still love you when you start greying."

He chuckled a bit. "I might be a crazy old man by then." he smiled, talking in an old coot style voice.

"I'm pretty sure you'll be your usual amount of crazy and still have your own voice." She giggled, taking a last sip of her drink and groaning.

He rubbed her stomach a bit more for her, just trying to soothe her pain. "I know I will." he said softly to her. "And I am sorry for you. This really does suck to see you like this."

"Thank you." She sighed, eyes still closed. Then, her eyes popped open. "Huh. I wonder if lesser restoration will do anything."

He smiled at her. "It's worth a shot."

She placed a hand on her stomach, and her fingers glowed for a second before the light faded. The magic washed over her, and she sighed. "Kinda feels like a… muted headache now. Hard to describe."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Like a stubbed toe, but it is just slightly throbbing now." He said, lifting her into his lap to cradle her more.

She curled up in his lap. "Yeah. That's a good description. Hopefully, it'll last for awhile. Might actually get some rest."

"Good." He smiled at her, gently stroking her hair comfortingly.

"I love you." She whispered, holding him. "Thank you for being here for me."

"You're welcome." He whispered back. "I love you, too." He quietly spoke leaning his back against the wall and closing his eyes, as he held Mag close to him.

"As?" She asked him quietly. "Can I sleep?"

He stroked her hair. "Of course you can. You don't have to ask me to do that." He smiled, quietly speaking to her.

"I know." She yawned. "Just feel bad. Sleeping our day off away."

"I don't mind it." He said letting out a yawn. "So long as I am with you. It is fine by me."

She sighed, eyes closing. "Thank you." A moment later, she was dozing peacefully.


	15. Backward Pawn

Magdiana slept until deep into the night. She awoke to a bit of a mess, which she quickly and cleaned up, starting a load of laundry before retreating to the basement to get an incredibly early start to her day, beginning the process for several different poisons before beginning to work on Astero's punching bag. He found her a little after dawn, sweating profusely mid-workout while upside down doing handstand pushups near the wall.

"Well, good morning, Mag." He smiled down at her with a little chuckle. "I see you're doing better."

Magdiana nodded from her position. It looked strange given her current orientation. "Eh, more like… channelling it at the moment."

He smiled, admiring her form for another few moments before walking slowly back upstairs. "I'll make breakfast. See you in a few."

She finished the rest of her workout, and walked upstairs, wiping sweat from her brow with a spare towel. She sniffed the air as she closed the secret door. "As, that smells amazing!" She called out to him as she walked into the kitchen. "Thank you for cooking."

He placed a plate on the table in front of her. "You're welcome." He kissed her softly on the lips. "Now, eat."

She kissed him back before happily beginning to eat, remembering, for once, to pause and actually chew between bites. When she was finished, she ran upstairs to get dressed in clean post-workout clothes before sending Astero off for his day at work. A couple of hours passed before she was able to place her morning's work in vials, leaving her house to make the exchange.

Today, she walked down to the park, sitting down on a bench, watching a group of young children play while she waited. A few minutes later, a familiar halfling in a red cloak sat down beside her. "Hey, Mag. How are ya today?" He asked conversationally.

She turned to look at him, and smiled. "Not bad, Finn. How about yourself?"

"I'm well, thank you." He responded. "Do anything fun this weekend?"

"Adventuring." She sighed, waving a hand. "Not really my idea of fun, though. I know you work those days, so I won't even ask."

"Adventuring?" He asked curiously. "If you need coin, we've got plenty of work that can be done."

Magdiana sighed. "Not the type of honest work I'm looking for, though." She eyed him steadily. "I don't want to do that." She told him firmly.

"I'm not offering that." He responded. "There's plenty of good jobs involving bad people. Let me give you one. I'm sure that you can handle it."

"Let me think about it." She told him, handing him a pouch with several vials in it. "I told my fiance that I wouldn't be doing that for you guys."

"Then, do it together. We can have the local guild list it." He told her.

"Let me think about it." She replied in a more firm tone, handing out her hand for the items he had to give her. When he did just that, she stood up and left, swiftly making her way out of the park and to her parent's house for a visit.

Several days passed uneventfully until, towards the end of the week, Magdiana received a request from her employer that clearly looked like Finn's handiwork. She sighed, looking at the price tag, and subtly researching the people she was asked to take care of. On eighth day, she completed the job with a little reluctance.

During her exchange that day, she looked to Finn oddly when she received her payment. "What about for the job I finished this morning?" She asked him quietly.

"What job?" Finn asked her seriously. "You never told me that you wanted to do one."

Mind reeling, Magdiana nodded a little slowly as her mind processed his words. "Oh. Yeah. You're right. I didn't." She bid Finn a good weekend before practically sprinting her way back to her house. She let herself inside, frantically searching the common areas before going downstairs into the secret rooms. From there, it wasn't difficult for her to find what she was looking for. Her hand was shaking as she picked up a letter, sealed with Rivin's signature 'R' and fox symbol.

"Gods dammit." She muttered, wiping a tear out of her eye before she opened it, reading the familiar script quickly.

Dear Magdiana,

Thank you very much for taking care of that small problem for me. It is much appreciated. The coin you earned is under the table. Don't spend it all in one place.

I have been hard at work, using my resources to achieve many things, and I look forward to meeting as a family at the end of the month to go over some details together. Do try take care of Astero for me. He's my only brother, and your adventures could be quite dangerous.

Oh, by the way, I believe congratulations are in order. Your gift is in the bag.

Your brother,

Rivin

Magdiana looked underneath the table and did find the coin she was looking for, and, at the bottom of the bag, she found a framed image of two people that could only be Astero's mother and father by resemblance alone. Seeing the image, she burst into tears in an instant, crying her heart out on her office floor.

Astero found her there shortly after he returned home. "Mag?" He asked, concern filling his voice as he knelt down to get closer to her, pulling her close to him.

"As." She mumbled, nestling into his chest, her sobs renewing themselves thanks to his comforting presence. "I screwed up. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Mag? What happened?" He asked her confused, but holding her tightly as a comfort. "Talk to me."

"I thought it was my work, but it was Rivin. I- I killed people for him, As." She sobbed harder, clutching onto him as she did so.

Astero held her, but he didn't speak for a minute. His grip loosened, and he looked her in the eyes. "W-why did you kill them?" He asked her hesitantly. "What did they do?"

"I thought they were bad people. That they were killers themselves, but if it was Rivin, it was probably lies." She sniffed, looking at him. "They were probably only guilty of what Wake was guilty of… getting in his way."

"But, why would you agree to do it in the first place?" He asked her still confused. "What did he do to make you do it?"

"I thought it was my work. The Syndacate. I thought that Finn was just being pushy. I researched it. It all looked to be in order, but this happened. I was wrong." She told him honestly. "Gods, I'm an idiot."

"What happened to not taking those jobs?" He asked her starting to get a little more annoyed. "I thought you didn't have to take those if you didn't want to."

"I don't, but Finn's been being pushy about it. The coin was good, and it was easy too. I didn't even know that it wasn't my work until Finn told me that it wasn't him." She started to sound confused and frustrated. She wasn't crying anymore. "Why are you questioning me on this? I didn't do this for him on purpose."

"It's because you still took it." He told her seriously. "And now people are dead, and Rivin is another step forward in his master plan." He said angrily.

She scowled. "Are you seriously admonishing me over trying to do what I thought was right? I didn't know!"

"Yes! You didn't have to take the job!" He yelled at her. "Literally could have just walked away."

"And potentially not have work for myself? If Gordon started asking you to cater, could you just say no?" She defensively reasoned.

"I wouldn't say no, because catering doesn't kill people." He deadpanned.

"You make it sound like I wanted to do this." She told him. "I didn't. I didn't want to kill people."

"But you did. You could have gone to Finn and promptly told him to fuck himself, and then you would have found out that it was false. But you took it anyway." He said annoyed, standing up and pacing.

Magdiana grabbed his shoulder and made him stop, so he could look at her. "That's not fair, As! What would you have done? Would you be following your own advice?"

"Yes I would. I wouldn't just let it happen like what happened here. We need to be smarter Mag! This was a huge mistake!" He said with wet eyes.

"I'm not smart like you and Rivin, As!" She yelled back at him almost cutting him off. "Gods, dammit. I'm trying. You can't blame me for this!"

"I'm trying not to, but it could have been avoided…" He said looking at the ground. "So easily."

"Yeah, it could have. If your brother wasn't such an asshole, it wouldn't have happened at all!" She replied with fire in her eyes.

"I know he is, and do not put this on me." He said, almost growling.

"Why not? You're solely putting it on me." She quipped.

"I did nothing wrong." He told her.

She looked at him steadily. "And, I did?"

"You could have not done the job." He said simply. "There are people who might have had families who are dead now, Mag."

"I know, but it's too late for that now, As. All I'm looking for is a little support, here. You're making me feel like I'm the bad guy!" She growled.

"A person's life isn't worth money!" He yelled back quickly. "I don't care about the poisons, but killing for coin, I will never be okay with!" He said seething.

"I already admitted that I screwed up, Astero! Stop this." Her eyes were tearing up again. "You're looking at me like… you look like all you're seeing is Rivin."

He looked her over, and took a step back. "No you are not him, you will never be him…" he told himself, trying to calm down.

"I heard a but coming." She interrupted swiftly

He looked up to meet her eyes. "But…" He said firmly. "I don't want to see you become him."

She looked at him for a long minute before she broke eye contact. "I'm not, but I can see in your eyes that you think I am." She started to step around him. "I- I need some air."

He grabbed her arm to stop her for a moment. "I don't think you are. I am just afraid of what would happen if you were." He said quietly, letting go of her and going to sit at the table.

She looked at him cooly. "Then, we're lucky I'm not." She responded numbly with no inflection whatsoever. With those words, she ran out the door.

Astero heard the door slam shut behind her. He put his head in his hands, and rested on the table for a long minute, sobbing to himself. He looked over and saw the picture of his parents. He sobbed harder, and turned the picture over. He wanted to throw it, but he kept it together long enough so that it would remain intact. He walked to the kitchen, and grabbed a bottle of alcohol, before walking up to the bedroom. He was done with today.

Magdiana ran hard. It was still warm, summer was coming fast, and she was sweating. The warmth made her forget. The run made her forget until she was finally all alone. She'd made it out of town, collapsing under a tree in tears, curling up into a ball, her back resting on its trunk. "There you go screwing up everything, Mag. You idiot." She quietly berated herself, sobbing harder as she heard the words on the air.

"Oh, far from the contrary, Mag." Rivin said walking up next to her. "You are much smarter than you give yourself credit for." He smiled softly at her.

Magdiana looked up, stiffening in her place when she recognized the resemblance to Astero Rivin had. Her mind started to calculate everything happening at a mile a minute. He had weapons, at least three she could see. Probably more that she couldn't. He looked ready for anything. She finally took a breath before replying. "I see that I finally get to meet you… brother."

He gave a small smile, and leaned down, extending his hand in offering to her. "Yes, it is nice to meet you face to face. Sorry for all of the letters, I don't want to get any unwanted attention." He said simply. "You know how it is."

Magdiana took his hand, allowing him to help her stand, finding that she was several inches shorter than him. Her eyes met his, and she realized they were the same as Astero's. Her other hand carefully reached into her back pocket, silently activating her sending stone. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Rivin?" She asked him. "Haven't you done enough already?"

He watched her as she dusted herself off, and chuckled at her words a bit. "I can't get to know my future sister-in -law?" He asked with a laugh.

"I think you already know plenty about me… and my family." She responded. "Stop bullshitting me. You know I hate this dancing around words shit. Just tell me what you want, and I'll do it. Just leave me and Astero alone."

Rivin raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "I was being serious. I knew about you, in yutan, but here… I don't have as much pull." He told her honestly, pondering her words in his head. He went silent for a moment, before he spoke. "I never planned on you two being together, but it still ended up happening." He said looking her over. "And now, I highly doubt you will split ways." He said with a gesture to her finger. "So, sadly, I think we will be seeing a lot of one another. We are family now after all."

"Yes, Astero will be my husband, and you my brother-in-law for better or worse." She replied almost threateningly, but close enough to sweetness that it wouldn't cause Rivin too much immediate concern. "Is there any outcome in all of this where we can just be normal? Astero deserves it after everything he's been through. Somebody left him to be raised by the elders."

Rivins smiled faded a bit. "Astero is strong." He told her simply. "If he could survive in Yutan, he will easily survive here." He said taking a small breath of air. "As for the outcomes, there are but two that would do that for you." He said holding up two fingers. "The first and my preferable option, is for you to help me get rid of The King. Do that, and the second he is gone, you and Astero will never see me again."

"And the second?" She pushed.

"The other option is one of you dying." He said bluntly. "I need both of you for all of this, and it wouldn't work with just the one." He sighed deeply. "I really don't want that to happen."

She closed her eyes. She was shaking. When she opened her eyes, there were tears there. "Fine. I'll help you. Just don't hurt him."

"I wouldn't dream of it." He told her honestly, holding out his hand for her to shake.

She gripped his hand to shake it. "I don't get to go back to him yet. Do I?"

"Sadly, no." He told her. "But when we are finished, you will have all the time you want with him."

"Do we still get dinner next week? All of us together?" She almost pleaded.

He thought it over for a moment, thinking about the next few steps. "We can have that. I haven't had a good dinner in a long time." He nodded at her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She fought not to recoil away from his touch. "As makes the best food." She told him honestly.

"I have heard." He smiled back. "Now let's go make some preparations." He said starting to lead her off into the woods.

Magdiana didn't hesitate but for a second. She turned off her sending stone and dropped it on the ground. She was alone now.

Astero awoke in the night to the sounds of banging on the front door, he got up and drunkenly made his way to the front door. He shook his head to try and rid himself of the alcohol but to no avail, he shrugged and opened the door. "Hello? Who is knocking at this hour?" He asked, slurring his words a bit.

"Astero!" Eri said urgently. "What happened today?"

Astero looked at Eri curiously. "We had a fight, and Mag took off." he sighed a bit. "I am guessing she is staying with you for a while?" He said turning and walking to the kitchen.

"No. Rivin took her. She used her sending stone so I could hear some of the conversation." She replied, taking the bottle out of his hands. "Don't push me it I will heal the buzz away."

Astero turned quickly to look at her. "He did what?!" He said sobering up a good bit. "Where is she?"

"You heard me, and, from what we've been able to figure out, we can't scry on her either." Eri put her hands on her hips. "Now what was this fight about?"

He shook his head and looked at her. "She took a job from who she thought was her employers, but was actually rivin. The job was to kill some people for some money. We argued about what happened. I got mad because she took the job in the first place without talking to her employers, which would have tipped her off. And she got mad at me for not seeing it her way."

Eri pinched her nose and sighed. "I'm so glad that I'm ex-military now." She pointed upstairs. "Get your things. You're staying with us where we know you won't be taken as well."

He looked to Eri, and almost wanted to say something, but turned and walked up to get his things. He came down a few minutes later, he walked up to Eri, before he turned and went downstairs to get the picture. He came back up and nodded. "Okay, let's go." He said quietly.

"What in the nine hells is that?" Eri pointed to the secret door.

He made a face, and looked at the door. He turned back and looked at Eri. "That is where Mag does her potion and poison making." He told her honestly. "Not something you want the normal folk to see."

Eri sighed again. "Nevermind. I'm sorry I asked. Come along." She said, leading him out the door.

He nodded and walked out, locking the door behind him. He followed her quietly to their house, not really wanting to say much.

"I can tell that you're startled. We're going to do everything in our power to get her back." She told him in a steadfast tone.

"I know we will." He said in a slightly more confident voice. "I am just nervous is all." He sighed.

"Nervous?" She asked. "Why?"

"Rivin must have planned all of this." he told her. "Either it means he is much farther along than we thought, or… he is pushing hard to get his own plans into motion." He said looking at her with wet eyes. "And I don't know what one is worse."

She looked at him with a soft expression. "I know how hard this must be." Her voice broke as she said the words. "I'm sorry." She told him. "I should be stronger than this."

He shook his head at her. "No, this is the second time he has taken her." He said, his voice growing a bit darker. "You have every right to be upset."

"She's not going to be the same Mag when she comes back." She whispered.

"As long as she is alive, I will be fine with whatever Mag is there." He silently said, moving a little faster now.

She kept pace with him. "You work tomorrow right?"

"Yeah." He nodded at her.

"What times?" She asked.

"Six in the morning to six at night." he replied.

She nodded. "As a precaution, someone will walk you to and from. Sorry if it seems extreme."

He sighed a bit. "It's fine." He said looking at her. "You are just being protective."

She gripped his shoulder reassuringly. "You're our family too."

He smiled a bit. "Thank you." He said placing his hand on hers.

"You're welcome." She told him as they arrived on the property, entering the door, and locking it behind them. She immediately started to cast a spell while Marius looked to be standing guard.

"Hey." Astero said anticlimactically.

Marius looked at him and pulled him in for a quick hug. "You okay?" He asked, eyes still on the swivel.

"Yeah. I will be." He told him honestly. "It is going to be a rough time sleeping until she gets back though." He sighed.

Marius laughed. "I'll put you in a headlock if you think it will help."

"Honestly… that might." He said seriously.

"Go offload your stuff. I made dinner." Marius told him, looking to Jacob, quietly eating at the table.

Astero nodded, and went to Magdianas room. He quickly dropped his things off, and went back down to sit at the table next to Jacob. "Hey buddy, how are you doing?" He asked him.

"I'm okay." He shrugged. "Didn't get to train today, though."

"If you want buddy, I can train with you tomorrow when I get back from work." He offered him.

"Thanks. That would be awesome!" The boy enthused, taking a huge bite of vegetables.

"No problem." He smiled at him.

Jacob finished his plate and moved into the kitchen to clean it. A few minutes later, he came back, sitting down next to Astero. "So, you're staying with us? Where's sis?"

Astero cringed a bit, but kept a pretty straight face. "Mag is off on a business trip. She might be gone for a while." He lied, thinking of the first thing that came to mind.

"Aww, man." Jacob pouted. "I never get to see you both."

Eri walked into the room finally, looking to the two. "Did you finish your homework, Jacob?" She asked him.

"No." He responded, not even waiting for her to tell him to do it. He simply left the room, calling back, "I'll finish it."

Eri looked to Astero, taking food from the table and loading her plate. "Eat. You'll need your strength." She ordered.

He nodded and began to put food on his plate. "Yeah, thank you." He said, taking a bite of food. "It's good." He smiled a bit, trying his best to enjoy the food, but failing to do so.

"Thanks." Marius told him, taking a seat, but not eating. He looked between the two others. "It's safe now to talk about everything. If you have questions, go ahead and ask them."

"Have you asked The King if he knows where they are at?" Astero asked him.

"We asked him to scry on them, but he couldn't. They're not able to be detected with that kind of magic for some reason." Marius responded.

He sighed. "Well what did you hear?" He asked him, wanting some form of answer.

Eri removed a set of scribbled notes from a pocket and laid them out on the table. "Mag was smart. She announced in the sending stone who she was talking to almost immediately. She wanted us to hear this."

Astero went over the notes in detail reading them carefully. After a few minutes Astero looked to Eri. "Why would she do that?" He asked her trying to put the points together.

"You want my honest opinion?" She asked him seriously.

"Yeah." He nodded at her.

She pursed her lips together for a moment. "Know thine enemy. She wanted to know more."

"She is acting as a double agent." He said looking at her intently. "You think she will be able to figure out his plan?" He asked her curiously.

"I hope so." Eri responded quietly. "But, to do that…" She trailed off for a moment, looking emotional. "To do that, she will have to be his weapon."

He closed his eyes, and fought back tears. "Do you think we can stop him before that?" He asked nervously.

"The King's plan for your dinner next week still stands." Marius responded. "Hopefully, it will be enough."

"Then I am going to make one hell of a dinner." He told her with a fire in his eyes.

"What do you need from us to help train?" Eri asked. "You'll need to be on top of your game."

"You can get rid of exhaustion, right?" He asked her seriously.

She thought about it for a minute and sighed. "I have enough diamond dust to do it twice this tenday."

He thought about it for a minute. "Can you get more by tomorrow?" He asked in response. "Because I can get you the coin."

"I have plenty of places to get it, but the coin is potentially problematic." She responded honestly. "I don't have enough for the nine days worth you'd need."

"That's fine." He told her simply. "As long as you can get it, I can make sure you have the coin." He said pulling out his pouch of coin and handing it to her. "That should be enough for a few days, we can get some more tomorrow after work." He said with a newfound confidence. He had a plan now.

"It's not a substitute for sleep." She told him firmly. "You're a caster. You'll need actual rest in order to cast."

"Then I won't cast." He told her simply. "I can study spells and do the motions of casting them, but I won't actually cast." He said with a nod.

She nodded. "Alright, but, if you ever ask me to do this again. I will knock you out the hard way."

"Deal." he told her honestly. "We won't need to do this again." He sighed, his voice a good bit darker.

Eri reached and grabbed his hand. "She'll be back. It'll be okay."

He sighed at the touch. "Thank you. I know she will." He said with a small smile.

She watched him for a moment. "Go train. I know you want to."

"Thank you." He nodded, and quickly ate the last bit of food he had on his plate before standing up and going out to the training area. He took a deep breath, and looked to the surrounding targets. He summoned Wake's sword, and began to lay into one of the target dummies, attacking it over and over again, until it became splinters from his attacks.


	16. Prophylaxis

Magdiana awoke at dawn without prompting, dressing and arming herself within a minute, and walked to the galley, making a quick bowl of cereal before working out for a few hours. When she finished, she walked to the deck, and knocked on the door to the captain's quarters. She waited quietly for the okay to come in, and found that the door opened for her a moment later.

She looked around the room, finding its occupant at the map table. She walked up to it, still not speaking, waiting to be addressed. That was one mistake she wasn't making again for certain.

"We'll be there by evening. Don't worry." Rivin looked up from his papers. "Go train some more."

Magdiana sighed and nodded, leaving the room quickly before running downstairs. That dismissal was all she needed to know she had uninterrupted time to herself. She quickly cast sending. "As, we'll be there tonight. Be ready. I can't do this for much longer. He's going to catch me eventually. I love you."

"We will be. You are going to be fine. I love you, too." Astero replied back in her within a few short seconds.

Magdiana started to train some more before Rivin walked downstairs again. He watched her critically for a moment before he told her. "Don't forget that work with the poisons." He ordered.

Magdiana nodded, and reluctantly moved to her poison workstation. He'd had her making aquitoxin the previous day, so he would want her to use that. She carefully coated her dagger in it, not bothering with wearing gloves. With a sigh, she grit her teeth and touched her skin with it breaking skin just barely, screaming in pain as she watched inky black track lines crawl their way through her veins until darkness took her.

Astero let out a sigh of relief. He was glad Mag had contacted him over the last few days, but he could tell by her messages, she was growing weak. He let out a sigh, and began to make his way back inside of Mag's parents house. He walked to the sink and got some water, before turning and looking at Eri. "They will be here tonight." he said simply. "We have everything in order, right?" He asked her seriously.

"It is." She responded, looking to him, and grabbing a pouch with diamond dust in it. "Get over here, so I can heal you."

He nodded and walked over to her. "Thanks for all of this." He quietly told her.

"You're welcome." She responded, casting the spell and giving him a hug. "I'm going to go rest up before tonight. Need all of my spells just in case."

He hugged her back tightly, and smiled. "Good. If all goes according to plan, you won't need to. But just incase, rest up." He said with a nod.

"Night." She told him, going to sleep at 10 in the morning.

"Morning." He joked a bit, as she got up and went to her bedroom to get some sleep. He let out a small sigh, and went to go get dressed properly. He grabbed his things from Mag's room, and began to walk back to his house, he unlocked the door, and began to clean a bit. He wanted the house to look good for Rivin when he arrived. After an hour, he went to go get the food.

Astero made his way through town, and stopped by The Rook. He walked in and waved down the much more alive looking Raze. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

Raze smiled at him, tail whipping from side to side slowly. "Fantastic." She smirked, not saying another word. "Good luck tonight."

"See you later." He smiled at her, quickly leaving the inn, and going to get the ingredients. He quickly got the food, a roast chicken and dressings, and began to prep it in the house. It was done relatively quickly.

He sighed, and walked down into the basement. He pulled out a small book from his pocket, and went over the notes for what he had planned for the week. He had called off work the day before the weekend, saying he had family issues to Gordan. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. He also had a very terrifying talk with Lumillon, but thankfully, he understood why and was more than willing to make sure that all went well. Astero gave a small smile into the book, it was funny just how many enemies Rivin had, that wanted him dead. From dragons to his own brother, and trying to get them all to help take him down was almost as simple as saying 'please.'

The hardest part of the whole week for Astero, was actually having a conversation with a man named Finn. He showed up at the door looking for Mag, and asked where she was. The halfling asked a lot of questions before astero finally snapped a bit and told him she was taken. Finn got very serious for a moment, and asked how to help. It took Astero off guard at the sudden change of faces, and he asked why. Finn said it was because she was owed a favor, and that "it is only common courtesy to help a friend in need." Astero nodded and asked him to simply watch out for The Raven, and made sure that when Rivin and Mag leave it. No one but Astero is allowed back on it. Finned nodded, and disappeared as quickly as he arrived.

Magdiana came to just as she felt The Raven come to a halt. They'd made it to port. She looked at her arm, and fought tears. It didn't look good. She quickly changed into a long sleeve shirt, and moved upstairs to meet Rivin. She looked at him, waiting again for his permission to speak.

Rivin pulled out a vial, and handed it to her. "Drink this." He ordered.

Magdiana eyed the vial, taking it from his hand, but doing nothing else. She tried to convey her question with just her eyes.

Rivin sighed. "You may speak freely for the evening."

"What's this for?" She asked him, not looking him in the eyes as she spoke.

"An insurance policy." He told her simply, a smirk growing at his lips. "Just in case The King and his men get any funny ideas."

"I'm not your pawn, Rivin." Magdiana whispered, looking at the vial, and realizing what it was.

"And what piece do you think you are to me?" Rivin retorted without pause.

Magdiana thought about Astero. Her eyes closed, and she twiddled with her ring. "The queen." She responded, quickly draining the vial in an instant, feeling the syrupy liquid coat her throat and stomach. "There. It's done. If I don't have antitoxin tonight, I die."

Rivin smirked. "Good girl. Let's go." He strode confidently off the ship, and she quietly followed to his side, slightly behind him.

They strode through town without an issue, and within a few short minutes they were at the house. Rivin knocked on the door, and within a few seconds Astero opened the door. "Hello brother." Rivin said, hugging Astero.

Astero nearly jumped at the sudden hug, but begrudgingly hugged him back. "Hello Rivin." He said calming, smiling at Mag as he did so.

Magdiana eyed Astero, and looked to Rivin, "No weapons… on his person at least." She slithered passed him, checking the bottom floor for people, and upstairs before opening the secret door and checking those rooms as well. "Clear." She told him simply, returning to Rivin's side and waiting obediently for orders.

"Thank you, Magdiana." Rivin smiled at her.

Magdiana finally actually looked at Astero's face. He looked ragged to say the least. Her chest tightened, and she moved forward to hug him without saying a word.

Astero sighed, as he hugged Mag back tightly. "I missed you." He quietly told her. "Haven't really slept much."

She squeezed him tighter in response, but, again, didn't speak. When she pulled away, she met his eyes, trying to tell him everything she couldn't with the look. She sniffed the air. "Can we eat?" She asked, deciding that those words were safe ones.

Astero nodded, he gave a small sigh and looked to Rivin. "I hope you are hungry. I made plenty." He said leading them to the kitchen. "Can I get you something to Drink?" Astero asked his brother. "Don't really know what you like."

Rivin smiled a little. "I'll have whatever Magdiana's having."

Magdiana nodded, going to the fridge and getting water. "What about you, Astero?"

"Water is fine, pretty sure if I have any alcohol, I will pass out." He chuckled a bit, as he took the food out of the oven and began to plate it.

Magdiana brought the three waters to the table, drinking out of Rivin's before handing it to him. She then quickly set the table and sat down in her usual seat. She watched Astero work in the kitchen. Was it just her or did he look stronger? His muscles looked painted on practically, and she found herself staring in fascination at him.

Rivin looked at her, waving in front of her face. He rolled his eyes, waiting for Astero to come to the table with their meals.

Astero turned, and walked over with the meals. "Here you go. Roast chicken." he told him setting the plate down. "Enjoy." He smiled setting the other plates down and sitting down to eat, taking a bit out of his food first.

Magdiana was the next to dig in, ravenously eating her food, cleaning the entire plate in only a few minutes. She looked to Astero in apology before cutting her eyes to Rivin. She filled her plate again, starting to dig in at the same pace.

Astero sighed at the sight of Mag eating like a starved animal. He took another bite, and looked to Rivin. "You are being awfully quiet. Is everything alright?" He asked him curiously.

Rivin nodded. "Yes it is delicious." He smiled at Astero taking a bite of food. "It is nothing against you, just not used to sitting down to eat is all."

Astero nodded a bit. "Yeah. It takes some time getting used to." He said honestly. "I used to think I would never be able to get used to this. And now here I am." He chuckled a bit, smiling at mag as he did so.

Magdiana looked to Astero then back to Rivin. "Just give it some time. We'll get used to family meals."

Rivin smiled at Mag, before he looked to Astero. "Yeah this is kind of nice. Homey." He said, taking a bite out of his meal. "It will be a while before that happens though." He said taking a sip of water.

Astero shook his head a bit at his words. "What do you mean it will be a while?" He asked him intently.

Rivin looked to Astero simply. "A few more years at most." He said bluntly, looking to mag briefly before he continued. "I still need to make sure my plans come to fruition, and Mag here is rather useful in doing that. So think of this a farewell dinner. For now of course." He smiled a bit.

Astero gripped his fork, and bent it in the middle. "You mean to tell me that I won't be able to see her for an indiscriminate amount of time, to which you don't even know?" He asked at nearly a growl, pointing to Mag to emphasize his point.

Rivin nodded simply. "Yes. She wanted to become the weapon I needed, and it will be a while before that goal is complete."

"No, she didn't have a choice." Astero growled, looking to Mag. "Did you?"

Magdiana's eyes darted between the two of them. "This is what needs to be done. For the greater good. I need no distractions." She told Astero, hoping her eyes said more than her words. "You make me weak."

Astero hung his head a bit, and looked to Rivin. "What did you do to her?" He asked simply.

"What needed to be done." Rivin responded simply.

The room went quiet for a long minute before Astero spoke. "You really don't care about me… do you?" He asked him quietly.

"That is not true. Your my brother…" Rivin began to talk before being cut off by Astero

"Then why are you so hell bent on ruining my life?!" He yelled at him, slamming the table in the process.

Rivin tensed up and put a hand on his hip. His eyes narrowed at Astero, and briefly glanced to Mag.

Magdiana stepped between the two. "Stop." She ordered, leaning over to Astero. "He's just stressed. I haven't been around to relieve it." She said huskily. She glanced to Rivin. "How long are we in port?"

Rivin kept his eyes on astero. "Not long enough for that." He said standing up, and looking at Mag. "We are leaving." He told her, and looked to Astero. "Thank you for the meal. It will be nice to have another one in a few years." He said with a small smile.

Astero kept his eyes on Rivin, and looked to the puzzle on the table. "You don't want to stay, to help put the puzzle together?" He asked him. "You must be pretty good at them."

Rivin paused for a moment, and looked at Astero. "A puzzle?" He asked him curiously.

"Yeah, it's of a ship. It kinda reminds me of The Raven." Astero said simply, keeping his cool at the moment.

Rivin took a few steps to the picture, and scoffed. "It looks nothing like that." He said turning and making his way to the door.

Magdiana looked desperately to Astero. Her one gambit to stay had failed. She looked over to Rivin, taking a deep breath and opening her mouth. "If we're going to be apart for so long, at least, let us marry first. I prepared ceremony. I could-"

"Don't test me, Mag." Rivin raged at her, and she flinched unconsciously.

Astero scowled, but quickly calmed himself. "I know the picture looks nothing like it." he said a little louder. "I meant that its missing pieces." He said with a small smile.

Rivin stopped dead in his tracks he turned his head to Astero. "What?" He asked, both angry and shocked.

"Let me guess. You have been using The Raven for almost a month now, and still nowhere close to figuring out why the infamous Raven, is not meeting your expectations." He smiled widely. "Am I right?"

Rivin looked to Mag in shock, and then to Astero. His face looking bewildered. "How did you know?"

Astero sat down at the table, and looked to Rivin. "That's because I have the missing pieces." he said simply. "No wonder Wake was a nightmare for you."

Rivin stepped back inside and closed the door. "Give me the pieces." He demanded.

"Only if you Let Mag go." Astero told him, staring him in the eyes. "A piece for a piece."

Rivin looked to Magdiana, his brain visibly thinking over the situation. He turned to Astero. "Prove to me that you have them." He said clearly annoyed.

Astero summoned the dagger, and gently set it on the table. A moment later summoning the greatsword, and placing it next to the dagger. "Windturner, and Stormcaller." He said moving a hand to each one in kind. "The reasons why you have been slacking in speed."

Rivins eyes lit up for a moment, as he looked them over. He pulled out two spell scrolls and used them, the scrolls fading into nothingness. Rivin smiled widely, and waved Magdiana over. "You have a deal." He said extending his hand for Astero to shake.

Magdiana carefully stepped forward, standing in front of Rivin. "Yes, brother?" She asked him subserviently.

"You can stay with him… for now." Rivin told her, smiling at Astero.

Astero shook Rivins hand, and gestured for the blades. "We won't be seeing each other ever again." He told him. "If I do, it will be a cold day in hell."

Magdiana's eyes got large for a minute as she realized something. "You need to give me the anti-toxin, Rivin."

Rivin quickly grabbed the weapons, and handed her the vial. "Here, I will still need you alive for later." He smiled, looking to Astero. "Oh, we will see each other. You do have a wedding? Right" he smiled, walking to the door. "Have a good night!" He said disappearing into the night.

Magdiana looked to Astero, her body relaxing for the first time in a tenday. She swiftly imbibed the anti-toxin, and threw herself into Astero's arms. "As." She muttered.

Astero held her tightly, letting himself relax as well. "Mag." He quietly told her.

"What's happening?" She asked. "The King agreed to give him the keys?"

"Oh no. not at all." He chuckled at her. "I just realized Rivin is an idiot."

Magdiana thought it over for a minute. She chuckled bitterly. "He's going to be pissed when you summon those."

He nodded. "Oh yeah. I plan on it" he told her simply. "Will you be alright to be around him again? Or should I get ready to be stabbed?" He asked her with a frown.

"You're not fighting him alone." She told him quietly, running a hand through his hair.

"Okay. good." He smiled at her a bit. "Then we need to leave, right now." He said moving to the door. "We won't have long."

"Be warned. I got new powers. Shits gross." She told him simply.

"I figured as much." He said leading her out of the house and to Lumillons house. "I spent 120 consecutive hours training. Staying awake for the whole week, i have had time to think of what would happen." he said knocking on the door lightly.

"Please tell me what's going on." Magdiana asked him.

Markus took this opportunity to answer the door, swiftly and silently ushering them into the sitting room. He said nothing before quickly scuttling out.

Astero looked to Mag intently. "If you piss off enough people, Mag. eventually, there is an army coming after you." He said summoning the weapons to his hands in short order.

Lumillon walked into the room. "Yes, and it is very hard to fight an army alone." He smirked.

"How fast do you think he'll be?" Magdiana asked, scheming.

"There will be some time." Astero told her. "I asked your employers, to watch the ship." He smirked.

"I need a minute heads up, then. Need to know when to cast the gross shit." She smirked.

"You will be notified." Lumillon told them, as he left the room. "Your husband is mean by the way." He said as he disappeared from sight.

"Mean?" She asked Astero.

He looked at her calmly. "I had to think like Rivin." He told her simply. "I am not proud of it, but it was the only way I could think of to get you back."

Magdiana unconsciously scratched her arm from earlier, wincing when she did so, pulling up her sleeve to look at the wound. "Thank you for doing it." She sighed, looking at the damage. "I don't know if this is a me sort of healing situation."

Astero grabbed her arm, looking it over intently. "What did he do to you?" He asked clearly annoyed. He balled a fist, and shook his head at her. "Heal yourself, I am going to need you at full power." He told her quietly, leaning in to give her a long well needed kiss.

She kissed him softly, healing herself and wincing again. Tears sprung up in her eyes, but didn't fall. "Ouch. That's going to need some better TLC when we have time." She inspected the arm, and the black track lines were gone, but it still didn't look quite right. It looked somehow weaker. Almost withered. "As for what he did to me, this is what he had me do to myself. You don't want to hear the rest."

He made a face that could best be described as, saddened, mixed with an unyielding rage. He looked her over and and nodded slowly. "No matter what happens. Rivin is dying tonight." He told her truthfully.

"Thank you." She whispered to him. "I love you." Magdiana stole a kiss from him, lingering there for several seconds. "I missed you. I didn't get to say earlier…" She trailed off, not wanting to anger him any more than he already was.

"I love you." He he said holding her close for a long moment. "I'm sorry about the fight we had." He said looking at her. "I should have said that I was sorry. I didn't get to, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to."

"I'm sorry too." She told him honestly, steadily looking into his eyes. "I should've told Finn. I didn't even think of it, thought it was how they operated. I was stupid. I was stupider for running away."

"You're not stupid." He said holding her cheek with a hand. "We just got played, hard." He smiled at her. "But tonight Rivin is going to get a taste of his own medicine."

She nodded. "Please tell me what's happening. I'm so lost."

Astero nodded. "Over the tenday, I asked as many people as possible to help me get you back. From Lumillon to The Syndicate, all of them wanted to get back at Rivin." He told her with a smile. "So I made a plan, and it started with the blades. I knew he wouldn't give you up without something in return, so I talked to Raze. She told me that the blades were what made The Raven so terrifying." He chuckled softly.

"Thank you, Astero. I don't think that I could've made it much longer with him while still being… me." Her eyes watered. "Gods, I'm already fucked up."

"You will never have to worry about him again." He said simply holding her close. "A knight protects his queen."

She held him, kissing his cheek since it was close. "A queen shouldn't have left her Knight's side. Where they're both safer together."

"It's okay, queens can move however they want, in any direction they want. But knights are trickier, they can be hard to pin down if you are not paying attention." He said, rubbing her back lightly. "That was Rivins mistake."

Lumillon walked in. "You have a few minutes. He is on his way back now. He looks pissed." He smirked.

Magdiana looked to Astero, wasting no time before casting her spell. Suddenly, she was surrounded by faintly glowing pixies. "Be glad that you're on my side for this spell." She told him with a smirk.

"If it is anything like that dagger you made before. Then I am glad." He smirked back, getting ready to fight.

She leaned forward. "Oh, no. Much worse. The dagger was annoying. This is painful."

"Good." He smirked at her. "Now let's go give Rivin a taste of his own medicine." He said making his way out of the door.

She stole one last kiss. "Yes, let's." Then, she followed him out.

The two began to make their way back to their house, and in an instant saw that the front door was destroyed. As they got nearer they could hear yelling coming from inside, it was Rivin, and he was undoubtedly pissed. Astero was first in the door, and he carefully called out. "You could have just knocked Rivin." He said with the sword at the ready.

In a few short seconds Rivin was at the entrance to the basement, looking at the two of them with a ragged and annoyed look. He glared at the sword. "Give me the Blades!" he yelled charging at astero. "Mag! Kill him!" He yelled at her, as he made a wild slash at Astero missing him.

Astero smirked, and parried his attack. "Of course. Here you go." He said cutting Rivins leg with the greatsword.

Magdiana froze. She knew she loved Astero, but, something about Rivin's words was compelling. She continued to concentrate on her spell, but couldn't do anything she was so wrapped up in fighting whatever was happening in her head.

Rivin glared at Mag, and felt the pixies begin to assault him. He winced in pain as the attack happened. He pointed a finger at astero, still looking at Mag. "kill him!" He said louder, before taking his own sword and stabbing it into Asteros shoulder.

Astero felt a burning sensation take over his shoulder. "Ahhh!" He yelled in pain, as black lines came from the wound. He fought through the pain, and attacked Rivin several times in rapid succession, all of them hitting the mark.

Magdiana gripped her head, trying to fight Rivin's commands. She remained concentrating, but only just. She reached out almost as if on instinct, healing Astero before she fell to her knees in pain. "Stop it!" She shrieked.

"No! You made your choice, and you will live with it!" Rivin yelled back, as he stabbed astero again. He winced as the pixies continued to tear into him, they weren't doing much, but it was affecting him. He disengaged Astero and moved closer to the door.

Astero's other shoulder got stabbed, and he was barely able to hold on to the greatsword. He bit his lip, and stood up to charge Rivin. He cast a spell at Rivin, sending a fire bolt his way, and hitting him with his greatsword a moment later.

Magdiana's hands moved to her daggers. Dread filled her as they did. Her eyes darted between Astero and Rivin. With daggers in hand, she stood up, reeling back and deeply embedding a dagger into her own leg. She grunted in pain, but suddenly felt her head clear. She looked at Astero, using her best healing spell. She turned to Rivin now, glaring.

Rivin looked to Astero, who was in a large amount of pain. He smiled, before turning to Mag. "You chose wrong." He said stabbing Astero one last time, causing astero to fall to the ground unconscious as black marks began to cover his skin. Rivin stepped over Astero, and dashed to Mag.

Magdiana parried Rivin's attack, quickly pulling a coated weapon and stabbing him directly in the shoulder. She repeated the process twice more watching the poison work its magic. She knew it worked when Rivin's eyes glazed over and a hand gripped his head. While he was distracted, she cast a spell to heal Astero.

Rivin growled, his head raked in pain as he had trouble thinking, let alone attacking. He looked at mag, and made an attack. It barely missed, as the pixies were still making their presence known. "Fuck!" He yelled out, not knowing what to do.

Astero felt the magic wash over him, and he stood up. He took a deep breath, and got a bit of strength back. He walked up behind Rivin, and hit him twice with the sword. "I'm still standing you fuck."

Magdiana suddenly smirked as an idea popped into her head. She removed the dagger from her thigh from earlier, stabbing it deep into Rivin. "Thanks to you, my blood is toxic, asshat." She hurled another healing spell at Astero for good measure.

Rivin felt the pain from the attacks and pulled out a spell scroll. He quickly read the paper, and an instant later a massive fireball engulfed the three of them. When the flames subsided, Rivin was unaffected, but Astero was unconscious again. Rivin was looking bad now as he coughed up a bit of blood.

Magdiana used her momentum to push Rivin to the ground out of range of Astero before casting the same spell back on him and, then, healing Astero. "What happened to never hurting your brother, Rivin? I thought I was the expendable one!"

Rivin scrambled to stand back up, and looked to Mag angrily. "Your were both worthless, just tools. Nothing more." He said vehemently, throwing two daggers at Mag, only one of which hit her.

Astero stood up again, and looked to Rivin with fire in his eyes. He waved his hands, and summoned a shimmering green arrow, which hurled itself at Rivin, hitting him hard. He gestured his hands again and summoned a spectral blade. "I figured that was the case." He growled at Rivin. "I never did consider you my brother anyway."

Magdiana summoned the spectral dagger, whacking Rivin with it, and healing Astero one more time. She looked to Astero. She was running low on spells, and he didn't look so good. Whatever happened next had to finish it one way or another.

Rivin looked at Astero, and made an attack with the sword. It would have hit, but with a wave of a hand from Astero it missed. He made a second attack, and it bounced off of the wall of force he had made. Rivin was visibly upset, he wasn't on the winning side and he knew it.

Astero brought the shadow blade down twice on Rivin both of them striking true. Rivin grabbed his head and took a knee as he was wracked by a torrent of psychic energy that struck him to his very core.

Magdiana struck Rivin with the spectral dagger one more time before grabbing another of the daggers he'd gotten her with and stabbing it into him. She watched as black track lines formed near the wound, looking to her own and realizing it had gotten her too. She suddenly tilted forward, feeling woozy. Just before she blacked out, she got one more healing spell off on Astero. Then, she hit the floor.

Rivin looked at Magdiana, and then to Astero. He knew he was at his end, as he tried to back away from Astero. "Please no, your my brother!" He begged.

"Not to me." Astero sighed, as he shoved the blade into Rivin chest and watched as he died screaming as he did so. Astero dropped concentration on the spell, and walked over to Mag. he gently shook her. "Come on mag. I still need you." He whispered to her, holding her in his arms.

Magdiana was breathing shallowly, but unconscious. She didn't wake when he shook her. Her body lay there motionless, angry black track lines of aquitoxin still coursing through her system. Her body was shaking and sweating there on the floor, skin growing paler by the second.

Astero picked up mag, and began to limp out of the house, kicking Rivins corpse as he left. He quickly made his way to The Rook, he stumbled through the door, nearly falling as he did so. "Eri, help!" he said setting mag down as gently as he could. "I can't heal her. You can."

Eri gasped at the look of him, but fussed over Magdiana for a moment. "You both need the big one, but you will have to wait until morning. Sorry." She told him before casting Regenerate on Magdiana.

"It's fine." he told her moving to lean against the wall. "Just want ther to be fine." He said closing his eyes, and promptly passing out.

Eri sighed, and moved to cast Heal on Astero. She looked to Marius worriedly as she stood near the unconscious couple. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she rushed into his arms. "They almost died."

Marius held onto her tightly. "I know." he said with a hoarse voice. "But they will be alright." he said rubbing her back.

Eri looked back at the kids, seeing Magdiana's labored breathing start to even out. "Oh, thank Corellon."

Marius looked to Mag and then to Eri. "I have no idea what happened, but it looks like a serious poison was used." He told her, seeing the marks on Astero.

Magdiana groaned from her place. She rolled over and nearly off of the table she had been placed on. "Fuck." She moaned, whining in pain.

Eri rushed over to her side. "Mag, what happened? What poison was it? We'll get the anti-toxin."

Magdiana looked at her mother, but her eyes weren't actually seeing her. "Necrotizing aquitoxin. Contact poison used for injuries makes it worse. Too late for anti-toxin. Needs to be used within a minute."

Eri looked to Marius anxiously before telling her. "Get some rest. You'll be better by morning." Eri frowned, asking the room. "What the fuck is necrotizing aquitoxin?"

Marius furrowed his brow. "Well, I don't know much about it. But I know that it is fucking expensive." He told her.

A moment later, Lumillon walked into The Rook. He looked at the two on the ground and sighed a bit. "Figures they would do all that damage to him, and still be that hurt." He looked to Eri and nodded. "Don't worry. Rivin is dead."

"I would hope so. Otherwise, I'd be wondering what he looks like right about now." Eri grumbled. "Did you see the fight at all?"

"Only bits." he told her honestly. "He only wanted me there if he ran away. Then I would have cooked him alive." Lumillon said, gesturing to Astero.

Eri shivered at guess words, but pressed on, "And, the aftermath?"

"Well, they will need a new front door, and a major remodeling. But other than that it was minimal." He said calmly. "Left rivin's bloody corpse on the floor."

Eri sadly looked to Marius. "Oh, their beautiful house. They worked so hard."

Raze patted her shoulder and sauntered towards the door. "I need to see it for myself." She smirked. "Sweet revenge for my Wake."

Marius nodded. "I want to make sure he is dead." he said looking to Eri and then to Raze. "I will go with you." He said turning back to Eri. "you stay with them, make sure they can walk tomorrow." He smirked a bit.

Eri nodded, looking determined. "They'll be safe with me."

'I know they will. You battle angel." he smiled at her, following Raze out the door.

"Get out of here, you sweet talker." Eri waved a hand, taking a seat and looking over the sleeping pair. "What am I supposed to do with the two of you?"

Lumillon looked at them. "This is a tavern, there are rooms." He said simply

Eri sighed, looking at Astero in particular. "Mag, I can handle. Astero's a different beast altogether."

He sighed, and walked over to Astero. "Just lead the way, and I will get him up there." He said effortlessly picking him up with one arm.

Eri picked up Magdiana, and carried her upstairs to the room she knew they used to share, letting herself in and placing her on the bed. "Thank you, Lumillon."

"It's fine." Lumillon said, placing Astero on the bed next to Magdiana. He chuckled a bit. "She really is like your mother." He told Eri.

"Almost too much." Eri laughed. "They would have been dangerous together. Probably for the best."

Lumillon laughed. "It would have been trying on everyone." He smirked, making his way back downstairs.

She followed him down. "How's Dazy? Still a hellion?"

He let out a deflated sigh. "She is still just as fiery as before, but thankfully, she has calmed down a bit."

"I'm hearing… less fire… more hoarding." Eri chuckled.

"Yes." he said with a sigh. "It is only toys now, I am worried when she starts looking at treasure and coin." Lumillon said, shaking his head.

"I think she's still got some years before then. Even so, you have a couple competent babysitters." Eri laughed again. "Honestly, never thought I'd see the day."

"That makes two of us." He chuckled.

Eri sobered up quickly. "Never thought I'd see Mag back."

Lumillon looked to Eri. "You will be seeing a lot of her." He told her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Rivin is dead, he can't harm you family any more."

Eri took a breath. "You're right. Thank you."

"No problem." He smiled at her, looking around the bar. "Now go get yourself a drink. I think you need one after the week you had."

"I need the whole bottle." Eri complained, stepping behind the bar.

"I don't think Raze will mind." He chuckled. "I will go make sure that there are no stragglers looking for a dead man." He said leaving The Rook.

Eri watched him go, and took a drink straight from her preferred liquor bottle. Looking around the room, she sighed. "All we need to round this mess out is a visit from the Syndicate and The King, and we'll have covered all of the bases." She muttered to herself.

An hour passed, and Marius and Raze returned. "Never have I been more relieved to see a dead man bleeding from his orifices." Raze said, holding a sword at her side.

Marius looked to Eri with a smile. "If he somehow managed to survive what they did to him. He deserves to stay alive." He said sitting down at the bar. "He was a mess."

Eri hiccuped. "Good." She said a little drunkenly. She looked at the bottle like it was the problem. "This stuff actually made me drunk. Huh."

Raze looked at Eri. "Well, that stuff will do that do you. I use that as a challenge to dwarves when they think the ale is shit. I bust that out and it shuts them up. And you just drank half a bottle." She sighed a bit, before chuckling. "It's fine."

Eri pulled out her coin purse. "I intended to pay. For the drink, and for their room."

Raze walked over, and pushed the coin purse back at her. "You will do no such thing. They can get a free room, and you can get a bottle. It's the least I can do, for what they have done for me."

"Thanks, Raze. I appreciate it." Eri told her, giving the woman a brief hug. She looked to the sword in her hands. "Rivin's I take it?"

Raze looked to the blade and smiled a bit. "Yeah. It isn't much, but it is proof that he is dead." She said a little sadly.

Eri thought for a moment. "Who gets The Raven, now? The kids have the sword and dagger."

Raze shrugged. "I don't know. I don't have a clue on how to sail a ship, and I don't intend on learning." She said looking to eri seriously. "Do they plan on sailing?"

"I don't know." Eri looked to Marius. "When Astero first got here, he might have thought to. Not sure about now."

Marius sighed. "I don't know. I doubt he would want to do that, he likes it here too much."

Eri rubbed her temples, sighing. "Please don't wind up being Jacob."

"He is not getting those weapons." marius told her. "We are not letting him near the ship."

Eri waved her hands. "This is above my pay grade."

"How about we just ask them tomorrow?" Raze asked them. "They have the weapons, they choose what to do with it."

Eri nodded. "That's fine." She looked to Marius. "I need rest so I can cast that spell on Astero tomorrow."

"Go get some rest." He told her, before looking to Raze. "That works for me."

Eri walked upstairs to the rooms and chose one before promptly passing out, exhausted from the day's events.

Marius smiled, as he watched Eri walk upstairs to rest. He sighed, glad that the day was over, and that mag was safe. "I am glad this is all done with." He told Raze.

"You are not alone, Marius." She smiled, pulling out coin. "Now, I have a wager for you. It's all over, so why not some fun?"

Marius looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "That depends on the wager." He told her honestly.

"Well, of course, how many days it takes until my favorite couple finally ties the knot." Raze smirked.

Marius thought about it for a moment, doing some math in his head. "No more than three days." He said confidently. "After what they have been through, they both want it now more than ever."

Raze smirked. "I will take the under on three."

Marius extended his hand. "Deal."

"The usual wager?" She asked him.

"Sounds good to me." He smiled back at her.

She took his hand and shook it. "Ten gold pieces and a sink full of dishes it is."

"I am winning this one." He chuckled, leaning back and relaxing a bit.

"No influencing the bet, mind you." She threatened.

He laughed at her words. "I can barely get Mag to listen to me as is. There is no way in the hells that I could change her mind on that." He told her.

Raze walked from the room and locked the front door of the inn. "We are closed for the night, so feel free to take what you like from the kitchen or bar. I'm going to bed."

"Sleep well, Raze." Marius said standing up and giving her a hug.

She hugged him back. "Goodnight, Marius."

"Good night." He smiled at her.


	17. Castling

Magdiana awoke with a throbbing headache. She gripped it tight, groaning as she assessed her surroundings, finding Astero soundly sleeping behind her. She turned in his arms to look at him, and found his clothing still covered in yesterday's blood, and the black lines still marring his perfect skin near his neck. Her fingers ghosted over the area. "Oh, I'm so sorry, As." She whispered, a few tears falling.

Astero stirred a bit, looking to Mag. He raised an arm with some difficulty, putting his hand on her cheek. "Don't cry. You didn't do this." He said quietly, still hurting.

"I made that stuff, As." She countered. "Are you okay? Do you need healing?"

"Well good job. It works." He joked a bit, before grunting in pain. "That would be nice." He said with some staggered breaths.

Magdiana touched the injury, casting Lesser Restoration, and, then, Cure Wounds. "Better?" She asked, still looking worried.

His breathing calmed down. "A bit." He said looking up at her, with a small smile. "Thank you."

"You need my Mom. I can't fix it like she can." She looked worried. "I'm so sorry. I love you."

"Don't be sorry. I have you back." He smiled at her, placing his hand on her cheek again. "I asked her to heal you first last night, she said she would heal me today."

She held onto him tightly and started to cry. "We're free."

He gently rubbed her back, and nodded. "Yes we are." He said letting tears fall from his eyes. "He is gone."

She gripped his shirt, and held him until her crying subsided. "Can we shower? We're covered in blood and gore, and my blood is fucked up. I don't want to hurt you."

Astero nodded. "You go first." He told her seriously. "It will take me some time to get there." He said, feeling how weak he was.

"You okay?" She asked him, sitting up and fussing over him.

He began to sit up, grunting as he did so. "I will be, I just got hit a lot by his blade. Honestly surprised I woke up at all." He said, focusing on keeping his balance.

Magdiana nodded. "I know what you mean." She sighed. "Honestly was surprised I made it out alive after being told to purposely use it on myself. I blacked out for a long while."

Astero chuckled, and held his chest a bit. "That's because your body has built up a resistance to poison." He said looking at her. "Your body is used to having poison in you. That's why you made it." He explained to her.

"I don't want to be used to that." She told him. "I want to be normal. I don't want to wonder if some idiot kid bites ours if they're poisonous."

"Well… now we have the chance to be." He told her honestly. "We can be a normal family."

She kissed him softly. "Just Mr and Mrs Vosson." She smirked, striding over to the bathroom. "I'll be quick."

He smiled into the kiss. "That's fine, take your time." He told her, slowly moving to the edge of the bed.

Magdiana moaned out loud when the hot water hit her muscles, and she relished the feeling. She showered, gently rubbing the more tender areas before hopping out of the shower. When she entered the living space, she rolled her wrist several times. "Huh. That old break looks different now."

Astero stood up slowly, and made his way to the shower. "Makes sense, pretty sure she cast a big spell on you last night." He told her, as he walked into the bathroom.

"Please yell if you need help." She told him, getting dressed in a set of spare clothes, still messing with the wrist, and then inspecting all of her other old wounds. By the time Astero came out of the bathroom, she was crying, looking up at him and wiping them away. "Sorry."

He moved over to her and sat down next to her. "What's wrong?" He asked her, wiping away a stray tear.

"Nothing's wrong. All of my scars are gone. None of your cuts or stabs. I can't find one." She told him, pointing out the areas.

He looked her over and sure enough, she was right. "Well, I guess that means we will just have to make new ones then." He smiled at her, putting an arm around her and pulling her close.

"I'm going to have to bite your leg again." She joked.

He laughed a bit. "Okay maybe not all of them."

"I'm totally doing it. I have to claim you as my own again." She laughed harder.

He laughed harder as well. "Fine but only if I get to bite you back." He joked, holding his side a bit as it hurt to laugh.

"As?" She asked him quietly, sobering up a bit.

He looked at her. "Yeah Mag?" He asked her.

"When do you want to get married? Other than after you're all fixed up." She kissed his cheek.

He smiled at her. "As soon as you want to." He said honestly. "I just want to get it over with, if I am being honest."

"Like today sort of over with?" She asked seriously.

"Like as soon as your Mom prepares it." He replied. "She will kill me, if she isn't the one to cast Ceremony on us." He told her honestly.

She giggled, hugging him. "My Dad can cast it too, you know."

He smiled hugging her back. "I know." He said quietly to her. "I am just sure your Mom wants to be the one to do it."

"Come on." She nudged him lightly. "Get dressed so you can get healed up."

"Yeah. it would be nice." He said, going to get dressed, and following her down to the main area.

Magdiana sat down at the bar next to her mother who was still clearly trying to process the world. "Morning."

Eri simply waved, looking to Mag and passed her to Astero. "C'mere." She waved him over tiredly.

Astero walked over to her, still clearly hurting. "Morning." He smiled at Eri.

Eri grabbed his shoulder, casting the spell he needed and resting her head on the bar. "Morning."

After a minute, Astero felt like brand new. He sighed glad that he wasn't hurting anymore. "Thank you." He said Hugging Eri tightly.

She hugged him back, patting his back. "You're welcome, son." She told him, turning to look at the two of them. "Alright, I'm up." She yawned.

Astero moved away a bit and looked to Mag. "It will probably take me a while to get used to hearing that." He chuckled a bit.

Magdiana looked from him to her mother. "Uh, yeah, but, maybe, we can make it official soon."

Astero looked to Eri. "If you don't mind." He smiled.

Eri's eyes got big. "How soon?"

"Uh, when can you prepare it?" Magdiana asked her.

"I've had it prepared for a month since you asked." She replied honestly. "You're ready?"

Astero nodded at her. "Yeah, after everything we have been through, we want to get it over with."

"Please?" Magdiana asked.

Eri nodded frantically. "Of course!" She told them, standing up. "I need… vestments, and you need a ring, and… Jacob!" She said in quick succession before striding out of the bar on a mission.

Magdiana looked to Astero. She met his eyes and burst into laughter. "That's hilarious."

He laughed as well. "I knew she wanted to cast it, but a whole month?" He chuckled.

"She's as tenacious as I am?" She asked innocently, looking to a smug looking Raze behind the bar. "Can we get breakfast? As your favorite soap opera, I think we deserve it."

Raze smiled gleefully. "Of course! What would you like?" She asked, her tail swaying happily.

"Steak and eggs." Magdiana replied honestly. "Hold the hot sauce."

Astero nodded. "That, but make mine a double." He told her, watering at the mouth a bit.

Raze nodded, heading into the back and returning a few minutes later. "It will the out shortly. Anything to drink?"

Astero looked to Mag for a moment. "Water for me please."

"Not picky." Mag shrugged. "Water's fine."

Raze smiled and when to get their drinks, and returned a moment later. She set them down, and brought their breakfast out in short order. "Here you go dearies, enjoy." She said leaving them to their meal.

Magdiana started to shovel her food for a second before realizing she didn't need to do that. She dropped her fork and knife for a second, covering her eyes. "Gods."

Astero placed a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. It might take time, but you will get back to your old self." He said honestly.

"All of that work just to be undone in a week. Had you snored wrong this morning, I might've stabbed first and asked questions later…" She mumbled.

Astero sighed, and leaned in to hug her tightly. "He is gone." He told her. "We won't have to worry about him ever again."

"Thank you." She sighed, cutting her food, and looking into it. "But, I killed people. I'm going to be worried about it."

He looked at her, and pulled her head to look into her eyes. "A knight protects his queen." He told her resolutely. "I will keep you safe."

She kissed him. "I love you, My Knight."

"And I love you, My queen." he smiled at her kissing her softly. "Now let's eat." He said, quietly cutting into his food.

She started to eat at a normal pace, finishing around the same time as him. "Thank you."

He smiled at her. "Anytime."

"Until the end." She told him.

"Until the end." He smiled back at her.

Magdiana was about to lean into him when they were interrupted by Eri and Jacob walking into the building. "Hey, Jacob!" She called out instead.

"Sis!" Jacob said running up to her and hugging her tightly. "I missed you." He said squeezing her.

She hugged him back. "Yeah. Sorry my, uh, trip took so long."

"It's okay. Astero trained with me while you were gone." He smiled, looking at Astero. "He is really strong now."

Magdiana eyed the man in question. "Yeah. I noticed." She shivered, looking at him.

Astero smiled at her. "Well, I did have help." He said turning to Jacob. "You helped me stay focused buddy, good job." He said ruffling his hair.

"Hey!" Jacob complained, trying to dodge out of the way.

"I'm glad that you helped him. Thank you Jacob. You helped save me… I mean…" Magdiana winced.

"You helped save her from all of that work she did, by making sure I could help her with it." Astero quickly covered for her, sighing a bit.

Jacob looked suspicious, but didn't say anything. "You're welcome." He said brightly.

Eri looked between Mag and Astero, finding Marius having a conversation with Raze nearby. "Where do you want to do this?"

Magdiana looked to Astero. Their eyes met for a minute, but neither spoke until Magdiana asked. "The Raven?"

Astero looked at Mag, and nodded. "Yeah. if it weren't for The Raven, we wouldn't be here right now." He smiled at her, looking to Raze. "Is that alright with you?" He asked her.

"As far as I am concerned, it is your ship at the moment. Do what you'd like. I won't stop you." Raze responded.

Astero looked at her curiously. "Are you sure?" He said looking to Mag.

"Yes. The Raven." She smiled, reaching for his hand.

He smiled at her. "Okay then. The Raven it is." He told Eri.

Eri smiled, nodding and leading the way. "To the ship." She smiled, holding Jacob's hand so he couldn't get away.

Astero stood up and held onto Mags hand as they walked to the ship. Smiling contently as they walked.

Magdiana held his hand and kissed his cheek. "We don't have a place to honeymoon right now." She whispered to him.

He thought about it before looking at her. "It could be anywhere you want it to be. We currently have a bitchin ship." He smirked back.

"The ship?" She hummed, just now considering it "That's an option."

"Yeah, and we have both of the blades. It will be pretty awesome to see at full power." He smiled at her.

She looked to him. "What about the house?"

"It might need some work." He told her honestly. "It got some damage after a fireball was dropped in our living room."

"Two. Sorry." Magdiana blushed.

"It's fine." He said kissing her cheek. "I don't really care where we go, so long as I am with you."

"We'll send coin and have the place fixed while we're away." She told him. "There's enough on the ship for anything you can imagine short of astral diamonds."

He chuckled. "Then I guess the sky's the limit."

They made it to the ship, and Magdiana boarded first, running downstairs and returning with a bag. She brought the bag to her father. "Would you mind fixing the house? Pretty please? I would like to at least have a door on the place."

Marius smiled at his daughter. "Of course, the place will be as good as new by the time you get back." He told her with a hug.

"Thank you." She smiled, hugging him. "Love you, Dad." She pulled away and looked at him seriously. "You're giving me away, right? It's kind of your job as father extraordinaire."

"Of course." He smiled at her. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

She smiled, looping her arm in his. "Well, let's do this thing. It's not every day that your only daughter gets married."

Marius smiled, and began to lead Magdiana to the helm of the ship, where Eri, Jacob, and Astero were waiting for them.

Magdiana looked at her mother in her clerics clothing. "Well, I feel underdressed." She whispered to her father with a giggle. "She's been ready for this for a month, you know."

"Of course I know." He whispered back to her. "The second she heard about it, she started fishing those out." He chuckled lightly.

She looked to Astero and smiled, getting lost in his eyes. She found herself staring at him, and lost all train of thought for a moment before she forcibly broke eye contact. "So, uh, how does this work?" She asked, feeling silly.

Astero smiled at Mag. "Well, I am pretty sure that your dad needs to let go of you first." He said smiling and Marius.

Marius chuckled a bit and, let go of Mag's arm. "Here you go, you better take good care of her." He smiled at him.

Astero took Magdiana by the hand and nodded, looking into her eyes. "Of course I will."

"I'll stab him if he doesn't." Magdiana winked.

"Of course you will." Marius smiled moving over to stand by Jacob.

Eri laughed, looking at the pair. "It wouldn't be your wedding without threat of stabbings." She gently adjusted their hands, placing hers over them, and starting the ceremony. Magic started to wash over them.

"Woah." Magdiana gasped.

Astero felt a small rush of energy. "Yeah, that is a different feeling."

Eri smiled, looking between them and over at Marius before speaking. "We've come together today to bond two souls together in matrimony, Astero and Magdiana. There's a lot that could be said about them, but I think that they'll say it best. Astero, do you have anything you'd like to say?"

Astero looked at Mag and smiled. "We used to fight each other like cats and dogs. Biting and clawing at each other day and night. If I was to tell myself that I would end up marrying you, I would have punched myself. Then promptly punched him back for not seeing the incredible woman that was in front of him the entire time." He smiled.

Eri smiled and looked to Magdiana. "Magdiana, would you like to say something?"

"I, uh, loved you from afar before you knew it. I thought that everything was over when you found out, but, like you always do, you surprised me. You gave me a chance. I thought I loved you then, but, now, I realize it was nothing compared to how I love you now." She told him, eyes watering as they met his.

Eri looked to Marius, and he came over. "Your father and I had something made for you two just for this occasion." She gestured, and Marius brought out a small box, handing it to Eri. She opened it to reveal two wedding bands. "As a wedding gift." She said in a watery voice.

Astero smiled at her, and looked at Marius. "Thank you both." He said looking at the bands. "We have been a little busy." He joked a bit.

"Thank you." Magdiana smiled.

Eri plucked out the masculine ring first, handing it to Magdiana. "Now, you say: With this ring, I thee wed."

Magdiana repeated the phrase, placing the ring on Astero's finger. Eri gave Astero the smaller ring.

Astero repeated the phrase, and gently placed the ring on Magdianas finger.

Eri placed her hands on theirs again. "By the power of Corellon, and probably Mask too, I now pronounce you husband and wife." She looked to Astero. "You may now kiss the bride."

Astero needed no further prompting, and pulled mag in for a long and loving kiss. "I love you, Mag." He whispered to only her.

When he broke away from the kiss, she whispered back. "Love you, As."

"Gentlemen," Eri looked at Marius and Jacob. "May I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Vosson."

Jacob and Marius walked over to steal hugs, giving each of them congratulations. Magdiana looked to Astero. "That's kind of weird."

"Yeah." Astero replied. "But we will get used to it." He told her confidently.

Eri looked to them, giving them each a hug in turn before looking at the helm of the ship. "When will you be back?" She asked nervously.

Astero looked at the helm of the ship and then to Mag. "I don't think that long, maybe a tenday at most." He smiled.

"A tenday should be more than enough time." She smiled. "We both still have work."

Astero jumped a bit. "Could you please let gordan know I will be gone for a while?" He asked her parents. "Wasn't really planning on this so soon."

Magdiana suddenly perked up, running downstairs and coming up with another bag before running off the ship for a minute. When she came back, the bag was gone. "Finn should be good for a tenday."

Marius smiled, and looked at Eri. "Yes we can. Come on dear, let's let these two get some well deserved time alone."

Eri grabbed Jacob's hand, joining her husband's side. "Have a good trip, you two."

"Thanks, Mom." Magdiana smiled, waving to her family and sidling up next to Astero. She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm suddenly exhausted."

The Rothenel family exited the ship, and could be seen disappearing into the distance as they walked away home.

Astero sighed in relief and gave Mag a small kiss. "I know the feeling." He chuckled softly.

"Let's get out of here." She smirked, eyeing him up and down. "So I can get a better look at your new muscles"

He smirked at her and grabbed the helm. "Agreed, I want to see more of you too." He said, summoning the weapons, and making the ship begin to move out to sea.

She stayed by his side while he moved the ship out of port. After awhile, she looked to him. "I'm going to go clean out the ship of… everything undesirable."

"That's fine." He told her. "I might see what this ship can actually do." He smirked at her.

She giggled. "I'll do the captain's quarters first. Please don't knock yourself off of the ship."

"Oh I highly doubt that I will." He told her with a smile.

Magdiana quickly gathered all items that even might remind her or Astero of Rivin, and started unceremoniously dumping them in an empty barrel. Eventually, she started making trips downstairs, coming back up with armfuls of items. When she was finished, she didn't bother asking, simply pushing the now heavy barrel overboard. "Good riddance." She muttered, dusting herself off before looking around and seeing that they were truly at sea with no ships around to be seen. Retreating to the captain's quarters for a moment, she returned to the deck wearing nothing but her two rings.

She looked up to Astero at the helm. "I've never had sex on a ship before." She called up to him.

Astero looked down at her with a smile. He made the ship continue it's course, and walked down to look her over properly. "Funnily enough, neither have I." He said leaning in to kiss her.

"I guess we'll have to fix that." She whispered into his lips as she pulled away from the kiss. "Husband."

"Yes we will. Wife." He huskily replied, starting to take off his shirt as he kissed her. He ran his hands down her back, feeling her soft skin.

She leaned into him, her hands coming to rest on his chest before moving around his neck as she jumped into his arms, legs wrapping around his waist. She pulled away only to breathe. "We're going to be so tan after this tenday." She giggled.

"Tan all over." He smirked, as he grabbed her ass a bit and walked to the captain's quarters with her in his arms.

She kissed him passionately as he carried her. "I love you." She told him as he carried her. "Happy Honeymoon, Astero."

He held her close as he laid them down. "I love you too... Mrs. Vosson."


	18. Adjournment

It had been two years since the mess with Rivin, and life had settled down for the Vosson's. Life was simple, and piece by piece, becoming normal. Or, at least, close to it for the pair. Magdiana had delivered on her promise of three birthday cakes on Astero's birthday, and Astero had gotten her green roses for their first anniversary. Eri, Marius, and Jacob made frequent visits to their house, and Dazgowyn stopped lighting them on fire after about six months on the job.

It was an average second day when Astero came home to Magdiana quietly working in the kitchen, "Hey." She called out to him quietly, much more low key than her usual bubbly greeting.

"Hey." He said to her, walking over to her. "Is everything all right?" He asked her, making sure she was alright.

She gulped. "I, uh… I don't know." She told him honestly, looking into his eyes and breaking, falling into his arms.

"Mag? What's wrong?" he asked her, now worried for her.

She took several minutes to calm down enough to speak properly, taking him to the kitchen table and sitting down. "Uh… do you remember a single instance of not remembering to use the spell? Because I don't."

Astero blinked several times in shock. "Uh… no." he said going over everything they had done in over the last month. "Are you sure?" He asked her seriously.

"You know me. I'm super regular… nothing happened today." She told him. "I don't even have cramps."

"Oh… kay then." he said sitting back in his chair, processing everything he just heard.

"I'm afraid to say it." She whispered, looking down into her lap.

He looked up at her. "You're Pregnant." He said, shocked by the words he just spoke.

"I need… to talk to Mom." She told him quietly.

"Yeah. That's fine" He nodded, taking a few breaths. "Wow. Mask really played us good this time." He chuckled a bit.

"That's what I've been thinking all day." She sighed. "Said some not so nice things to him…"

"That doesn't surprise me." He told her. "When are you going to go talk with her?" He asked her seriously.

Magdiana sighed. "Probably tonight if she's free."

Astero nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good." He told her honestly. "Do you want me to come with you? Or would you rather go alone?" He asked.

"Oh, no. You did this to me, you're coming with me to tell her she's becoming a grandmother early." She laughed.

He laughed back, and went over to hug her. "Okay. I will go with you." He said giving her a kiss.

She kissed him back. "Gods, this is surreal." She looked at her stomach. "I wonder if she'll be a human or half-elf. Huh."

He smiled at her and placed a gentle hand on her stomach. "Knowing your bloodline, half elf." He chuckled.

"Mask just wanted another cleric." She laughed, standing up. "Let me call her to see if she's available."

"Go ahead." He told her. "I want to go change real fast." He said going to go change out of his work clothes.

Magdiana used her sending stone, chatting with her mother and confirming that they could visit. When Astero was downstairs, she took his hand as they walked to the door, affixed to the wall, in a frame, was a somewhat charred ocean-scape puzzle above the mantle. "Ready?"

"Yes. I am ready for your mom to kick my ass." He chuckled.

"Aww, it's the end of the day." Magdiana mocked, locking the door. "She's already used all the good spells kicking teenaged Jacob's ass."

"Well at least it will be a light ass kicking then." He joked back.

Magdiana was quiet for a long portion of the walk, just thinking. Finally, she turned to Astero. "What names are we thinking?"

"Well. I would like to name her after my mother." He said quietly.

Magdiana smiled. "I would like that."

He leaned over and gave her a small kiss. "Thank you."

"My family has a tradition of flower and plant names for the middle name." She reminded him.

"That's fine. And if we really want to keep with the tradition, it should be a long name too." He chuckled.

She shook her head. "Absolutely not. How about Rose? One syllable."

He hummed it over. "Nora Rose Vosson." He said to the air. "Not bad."

"And, five syllables." She smirked.

"You are obsessed with syllables." He joked at her. "Next you will say we should just change or name so it is even shorter."

"Vosson is fine." She laughed. "It's when you add Magdiana Juniper Rothenel née in front of it that it gets annoying."

"Thank the gods we are not royalty then, otherwise we would have like eighteen syllables in our names." He chuckled back at her.

She brushed his shoulder. "I am still the queen."

"I know you are." He smiled at her, before looking to her stomach. "And she would be our princess." He chuckled.

Magdiana smiled. "Yeah. She is." Then, she looked into the distance, seeing her parent's house. "Oh, I'm going to vomit."

"Really or figuratively?" he asked her seriously.

"Honestly, I have no idea. It's up in the air." She told him, gripping his hand tighter. "I love you."

"I love you." he told her. "Not matter what happens, you are going to be fine okay?"

She looked at him with a small smile, and placed her hand on her stomach. "We are going to be fine. All three of us."

"Yes we are." He smiled back, giving her a kiss before they walked up and knocked on the door.

A moment later, Eri answered the door, hugging them both tightly. "So good to see you two!"

"Hey mom. How are you doing?" Astero asked her, as she let them into the house.

"I have had a busy week, but never too busy for you to. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Eri asked them seriously.

Magdiana looked at her Mom. "I've got cleric questions." She replied simply.

"Oh, I thought we'd gotten through all of that." She ushered them into the dining room, which was empty at the moment. "Sorry, dear. Come in, come in. Sit. What happened? What did you do and I'll try to help."

Magdiana sighed, looking to Astero. "It's more about… what didn't happen?"

"Yeah… we kinda found out today that things are going to be changing. Grandma Eri." Astero said simply.

Eri didn't say anything for a second, but, in the next, she was crying. "What?! I thought you were waiting. You had me thinking that Mask took away your powers for a second."

"He took away something for a second." Astero quietly remarked. "That's all it took."

Magdiana facepalmed. "We were using the spell… religiously. Mask, had other plans."

"I… am not old enough to be a grandmother. You're barely 25." Eri pondered.

Astero looked from Mag to Eri. "We know, we only found out today." He told her honestly.

Eri thought for a moment. "Oh…" She looked at Magdiana. "I never taught you any of the spells for that."

"Yeah, I'm not even sure except for the fact that I didn't start today." Magdiana responded.

Eri waved a hand over Magdiana and watched a glow appear. She inspected it for a moment before it faded. "You're pregnant. Do you want to know if it's a boy or girl?"

Astero looked to Eri, and he looked to Mag. "Well, we are pretty sure it is going to be a girl." He smiled as spoke. "Figured with all of the fiery woman in our lives it would only make sense."

"You are correct." She told him with a smile, looking to Magdiana. "When are you going to stop working?" She asked her daughter. "I know the stuff you work with can be dangerous."

Magdiana looked at Astero. "I don't know, but I might go crazy."

"I would rather it be sooner rather than later." Astero told her seriously. "Besides you will find a way to keep yourself plenty busy… we have a room to decorate." He chuckled realizing that they hadn't thought about this at all.

"We have a lot of remodeling to do. The kitchen is not child safe at all." Magdiana sighed. "And, there's a poisoner's grotto and armory in the basement."

"Yeah…" He said, letting out a long sigh. "We will be busy."

She sighed. "You're right. I'm going to be busy."

Eri looked between the two of them. "You two will be fine. Now, I want to see you once a week for checkups, but I'm sure Mask is taking care of you both."

Magdiana blushed. "Yeah." She nodded, standing up. "Where's Dad? I've gotta break the news to the old man."

"Training with Jacob out back." Eri waved. "They're working with daggers. Take a shield."

Astero stood up and waved her off. "I will get them, you sit down." He said to Mag. "it won't take long."

"Thanks." Magdiana told him, resting at the table quietly. She quietly looked to her mother. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Eri said, patting her hand, and walking into the kitchen, returning with a water. "Drink. You need to take care of yourself."

Magdiana took the water, and, true to his word, Astero was quick. "Hey, guys!" She called out to her Dad and Jacob.

"Hey Mag." Marius waved, going over to give her a hug.

"Hey." Jacob said nonchalantly, now much taller than two years ago.

Magdiana hugged them both, but Jacob's hug was much shorter. "I, uh… gods, this is difficult. Dad, you know how Mask is a god of trickery?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh yeah. Why?" Marius asked her curiously.

"Did you know that gods can make the spell not work?" She pressed. "Grandpa?"

Marius hear her words, and paused for a long moment before he got teary eyed and went to hug Mag tighter. "Oh sweetie."

"Uh, yeah." She said, hugging him back.

Jacob looked at them a bit confused. "Uh, what is going on?" he asked looking around the room.

Astero walked up to Jacob. "Well to put it simply for you, you are now going to be uncle Jacob." he smiled at him.

He took a second to process it all. "Oh… Oh!" He said louder now as it clicked, hugging Astero and than Mag.

"I've been hugged a lot today." She chuckled. "Kinda weird." She yawned. "Anyway, we'll talk more soon. I'm going to pass out."

Astero walked up next to her and put an arm around her. "I will make sure she gets home safely." He smiled at his family. "Good night guys."

"Night!" The group collectively called out as the Vosson's left for their home.

Magdiana leaned heavily on Astero. "That was exciting.. and exhausting."

Astero smiled down at her, and gave her a small kiss. "Yes it was." He sighed a bit, enjoying the cool night air, before he looked down at her again. "We are going to be parents."

"I am going to have a big belly." She made a tired face. "Weird."

"Yes, you are." He said rubbing her shoulder. "And I will love you, regardless of how big you get." He smiled at her. "Now let's get you to bed." He said, leading her home quickly.

"Let's just hope I don't crave anything too strange." She sighed, climbing slowly up the stairs. "I love you." She told him as she laid down in bed fully clothed. "I'm not moving."

He smiled, and began to undress her. He disrobed himself, and laid down next to her, pulling her close. "No matter what you crave, I will make it for you." He said kissing her softly.

"Night, As." She yawned, drifting off to sleep in his arms.

"Night, mag." He whispered to her, as he quickly fell asleep after her.

* * *

Magdiana awoke that morning to the new Vosson family ritual. Her eyes cracked open as she felt Astero's hands on her belly, and heard him speaking quietly to their child within. She looked down at him not for the first time and giggled. "I'm afraid I'm going to wake up and find out this is some weird high school fever dream one day." She murmured, thinking about how surreal the pregnancy was still, even though little Nora was due in less than a month now. "Good morning, As."

"I can assure you that this very real." He said moving to give her a kiss. "How did my two favorite women sleep?" He asked her curiously.

"We both slept well until 2 in the morning when Nora decided to start kicking my bladder." She complained, eyes closing. "After that, I was up and down every half hour."

Astero moved down to whisper to her belly. "Nora, you need to let your Mom get some sleep." He said quietly. "If she doesn't get sleep she gets cranky, and then I have to deal with that." He joked.

She swatted him a bit. "You did this to me. Don't blame Nora for my cranky hormonal ass."

He chuckled and looked up at her. "I know I did, and I am sorry. But in my defense, Mask did make the spell not work." He countered.

"Don't remind me. Might as well stop using it. He's just going to make whatever he wants to happen… happen." She groaned.

"Oh we are still going to use it." He told her seriously. "I know you want more kids someday, but we should still be able to choose when they get here."

She laughed bitterly. "You're saying this about a trickster God, As."

"Yeah, I know, but even gods can be nice from time to time." He smiled at her, leaning up to give her a kiss. "Now do you want to rest more? Or do you want food?" He asked sitting up.

"Both." She replied honestly. "I'm hungry and exhausted."

He laughed lightly. "You stay here, I will get you food." He said standing and getting lightly dressed. "Anything particular?" He asked looking back at her.

"Something with pickles." She asked him. "And strawberry jelly."

He made a face, and nodded. "I will see what I can do." he told her, leaving her be.

She grabbed a book from the side table. "Thank you… sorry."

"Don't worry about it." He called back to her.

When he eventually returned with food, she was crying. "I have the best husband." She mumbled.

He placed the tray on her lap, leaning over to wipe her tears. "And I have the best wife." he told her.

"I don't feel like the best wife." She sighed, starting to eat. "I can't even do laundry properly right now."

Astero thought of when she had turned a whole load of laundry red on accident, but didn't speak. "In a few short weeks, Nora will be here, and we will be a family." He said giving her a kiss. "Just a little longer."

Magdiana rubbed her belly. "Very soon. Mama can't take much more." She took another bite.

He placed a hand on her belly, and gave her a small kiss. "I love you."

"I love you." She told him, wiping a tear away. "See? Best husband… and you put pickles on my toast even though you thought it was disgusting."

"Just because I don't like it, doesn't mean I won't make it." He told her honestly.

She was about to take another bite when Nora kicked, and Magdiana sighed. She put her fork down. "I think I'm done."

He picked up her food for her and smiled. "I will save it in case you get hungry later."

"Thank you." She sighed. "Can't wait for that liquor and rare steak… that'll be the best meal ever."

He laughed. "I will make it exactly how you like it." He said bringing the tray downstairs.

"You're amazing. Marry me?" She joked.

"Any time, any place." He smiled at her as he left the room.

Magdiana was yawning again by the time he came back upstairs. "Gods, I'm sure I'm giving you whiplash. I'm sorry."

He shook his head at her. "You're fine." he said sitting down next to her. "I did do that to you after all, I have the easy job compared to you." he chuckled.

"Your job is plenty difficult. For one, you have to deal with all of this." She gestured to all of her. "For another, you're still making the big bucks for us."

He waved her off a bit. "Just be glad that the shop has increased in sales a lot." he smiled at her. "And I don't mind either one."

She waved him over and gave him a kiss. "Regardless, thank you. Now, get out of here so I can try to sleep with kicky mcgee here."

He kissed her back. "Sleep well, let me know if you need anything." He said, getting up to go clean around the house.

"Wait… you don't work today? What day is it?" She started trying to think it over, but came up short. "Fuck it. I'm sleeping."

"It's the weekend dear." he chuckled lightly. "Now sleep."

She yawned, laying down. "Thanks."

Astero smiled back and let her be. He walked down and began to quietly clean up around the house. He slightly missed the days of adventuring together, but they were on a new adventure as it is. He chuckled to himself, and quietly continued his tidying up. When he was done, he sat down, and read a book for a bit, while he waited for Mag to stir.

Around ten in the morning, Magdiana groaned in bed, clutching her stomach. "As!" She shouted. "As!"

Astero dashed up to the bedroom and looked at her. "What's wrong?" He said panting.

"Get the sending stone." She whined in pain. "Baby's coming."

"Oh shit." He said running to grab the stone. "Eri!" he yelled several times until she answered.

Eri sounded like she was just about to laugh. "Baby coming early?"

"Yes! And mag is hurting." He said quickly, not mincing words.

"Keep her comfortable. Get her sitting up. I'll be there soon." She replied soothingly.

"Okay will do." he said moving over to mag, and following Er's advice. "Come on, this is what your mom said to do." he said sitting her upright.

Magdiana winced, grabbing her stomach. "This sucks."

Astero helped her and let her grab his hand. "Squeeze as hard as you want." He told her.

She squeezed his hand tightly until the pain passed. "Oh, fuck." She whined.

"I know, I'm sorry." He told her rubbing her back soothingly.

She looked like she might cry. "Just stay close." She whispered.

"I won't move from this spot." He told her, staying where he was.

"Thank you, but can Mom get in?" She asked.

He sighed. "I will be back." He said quickly getting up, and rushing to go unlock the door for his mother-in-law.

Magdiana just tried to breathe, rubbing her stomach, and speaking. "It's okay. You'll be here soon."

Astero came back a minute later. He sat down next to her again. "Ok she can get in." he said, offering his hand to her.

"Thanks." She took his hand and squeezed reassuringly this time, rubbing it with her thumb. "I'm okay." She told him.

He smiled at her. "Good." he said kissing her cheek. "If you need anything at all, just let me know, okay?"

"Actually, when Mom gets here, some water would be good." She told him honestly.

"I will." He said calmingly. He looked her over for a moment and sighed. "I should get you a shirt." He said looking at her nakedness.

"And, so begins a lifetime of having to wear clothes to bed." She laughed.

"Not right away, there is a small gap there." he laughed back.

She shook her head. "Breastfeeding will have me making a mess out of the bed unless I wear bras to sleep."

"Then I guess it begins." he sighed, going to quickly get her one of his shirts. "Here you go." He said, sitting down and handing it to her.

She looked at the shirt and laughed. "Of all the times for you to give me a forbidden shirt, you choose childbirth?"

He looked down at the shirt and laughed. "Sure, why not." He chuckled, helping to put it on her.

"Might as well help me get out of the underwear before they're entirely ruined." She sighed, closing her eyes and breathing. "Hang on." She groaned.

He let her squeeze her hand tightly as she felt pain again. He rubbed her back as the contraction happened. "Don't worry, I'm right here."

She nodded, starting to sweat a bit. "If you still find me attractive after this, you deserve an award."

He chuckled. "They will need to make a big award."

"Wait a second… you're not supposed to agree with me on that." She laughed, suddenly distracted.

"Like I said before, I still love no matter how you look." He smiled at her, moving to get her underwear off while she was distracted.

She adjusted herself once the underwear were off. Her one hand was in his while the other was on her belly. This was how Eri found them. "Good morning." She said brightly.

Astero looked at her. "Morning." he said with a bit of relief, and stood up. "I will go get your water now." He said to mag, quickly making his way to the kitchen.

Magdiana looked to her mother. "Got anything for pain?" She asked.

Eri shook her head, "No pain, no gain. Sorry, dear."

"I miss drugs and alcohol." Magdiana joked as another contraction hit. "Fuck me running."

"Breathe." Eri reminded her. "Just breathe. Astero will be back soon."

"Fuck you! I am breathing." Mag yelled irritably.

Astero came back with the water and sat down. "Here you go." He said handing it to Mag.

Eri pulled Astero to the side. "The shouting will only get worse. Sorry, dear."

He shook his head. "It's fine." He said looking at mag. "I can deal with it."

Magdiana sipped the water. "Thanks." She gripped her stomach again. "It's getting faster and more painful."

"That's normal." Eri told her, waving a hand and looking at the magical results. "You're still looking fine. Can't do much yet."

Magdiana whined. "This is worse than being poisoned."

Astero moved his hand to grab hers. "Just squeeze." He told her calmly. "As hard as you need to."

She gripped onto his hand. "Thank you." She sighed, squeezing hard as another contraction came. "Fuck!"

Several hours later, Magdiana no longer had a voice as she tiredly held a swaddled bundle in her arms. Sweat covered her brow, and Astero was at her side, hand, surprisingly still intact. "I'm exhausted." She rasped.

Eri nodded, waving a hand again. "Well, you're not dying. Must be normal." She laughed at her own joke.

Astero smiled at the little girl in her mother's arms, and he looked to Eri. "Thank you." He said with a few happy tears in his eyes.

"It's my pleasure." She replied, backing out of the room. "I'll let you three get acquainted, and, when she passes out," She pointed to Mag. "I'll clean things up and give you some pointers."

"Thank you." he said to her, but looking at his daughter. "Welcome to the world." He smiled at her.

Magdiana handed him the bundle. "I've been hogging her. Sorry."

He carefully took her from Mag, and smiled. "It's okay." He said quietly. "She has your eyes." He chuckled.

"I was hoping for yours, but that's okay." She yawned. "She has your nose."

He smiled at Mag. "yeah, she does. You get some rest. You deserve it." He quietly told her.

She kissed him, placing a hand on her still somewhat distended stomach. "Don't know why I thought this would go away super quick." She laughed quietly, laying down on her side to rest.

"Sleep well dear." He whispered to Mag. He smiled down at little Nora, and waited for Mag to be asleep before he went to go talk to Eri.

Eri was on the couch when Astero came down. "That didn't take long." She chuckled.

"No, she gave me Nora, and passed out." he said walking over and sitting down next to Eri.

"She'll have plenty of quality time with her, I suppose." Eri smiled. "When's she going to start working again? I assume she's anxious to get back to it?"

He chuckled. "Yeah she is, but she decided to wait for a few months, before she does. Get into the new routine, first." He told her honestly.

"That's good." She told him. "You two are lucky. I couldn't go back into the military after babies. Got scary with the income for awhile."

He nodded. "That is true, the coin helped a lot." He chuckled. "But honestly, I am glad you are here for advice."

"Being a stay at home parent was the best thing to happen to me. And, the income came along in different ways later." She smiled. "I charge much less than the temples."

"It also helps to know someone." He chuckled. He looked down to Nora, and the to Eri. "would you like to hold your granddaughter?" He asked her.

"Yes, please." She smiled, holding out her arms, ready.

Astero gently place Nora into Eri's arms. "There you go." he smiled.

"Hello, Nora." She cooed. "You look so much like Mag as a baby." Her eyes teared up. "I'll get to spoil you rotten and hop you up on sugar before sending you home to your parents. But, most importantly, I'll be there for you while you grow up."

Astero rubbed Eri's shoulder. "Yes you will." he smiled at her Looking down at nora. "P-please go easy on the sweets." He said already having nightmares.

Eri laughed. "I know you two eat healthy." She smiled, wiping away a tear. "Enjoy this time. She'll be twenty in a blink, and you'll wonder where the years went."

He nodded. "Yeah, I plan on enjoying every last second." He smiled, looking at his daughter, and thinking of Mag.

"Have you changed a nappy before? Or mixed formula?" She asked.

Astero looked at Eri and blinked a bit. "No, actually. Never needed to, up until a few hours ago." He sighed.

Eri smiled. "I guessed as much." She pointed to Nora. "Stinker needs her diaper changed. I'll show you."

He sighed a bit. "Lead the way." He said following her.

Eri brought him to the changing table and walked him through the process. "There. Now, you've changed a diaper."

"And only about a million more to go." He chuckled.

"Don't try to count. It'll make you feel worse." She laughed.

"Good to know." He smiled, gently picking up Nora. "You are going to make me and mom very tired in the future, aren't you?" He chuckled at her.

"It'll be worth it." Eri smiled, "Let's get her some formula since Mom is asleep."

"Yeah, she needs it." Astero smiled, following Eri.

Eri once again showed him how to mix the formula. Then, she handed him the bottle. "You're lucky. You can use prestidigitation to warm it. Warm. Not hot. Test it on the back of your hand first."

He carefully put a bit of it on the back of his hand, and nodded. "It feels warm." He told her confidently.

"Good." She told him. "The next part is easy. You don't need me."

He chuckled, and began to feed Nora. "yeah, I have seen this part before. Just feed her until she is done." He smiled.

"Then, burp her." Eri reminded him.

"I can do that." He told her confidently. "I will make sure she is well taken care of."

Eri nodded. "Do you need me?"

He shook his head a little. "I should be okay for now. If I have any questions, you will be the first person I ask." He smiled at her.

Eri gave him a side hug. "Get some rest while you can. The nighttime interruptions are coming."

He smiled, and returned the hug as best he could. "Thank you, I plan on it here in a little bit. Just as soon as this one is fed." He said gesturing to Nora, giving a small yawn.

"Just call if you need me." Eri smiled, heading out of the house quietly.

"Will do." Astero said to her as she left. He smiled down to Nora, who was quietly looking back at him. He looked at the bottle and chuckled a bit as he saw a bubble float to the surface. "Yup, you are definitely our daughter. You certainly have an appetite." He quietly told her. After a few more minutes nora finished her bottle, and Astero gently burped her. He laughed at the impressive belch, and brought her up to gently put her in her crib. He smiled down at her, and gave her a light kiss on her head. Nora closed her eyes, and Astero went to lay down next to the sleeping Magdiana, to get some well needed rest.

* * *

Magdiana sat at the park bench watching Nora play happily in the sand as a familiar halfling sat down next to her. "Hey, Finn." She smiled, looking over at him.

"Hey, Mag." He replied, handing her a bag of items. "Gotta be quick today. Sorry."

Magdiana smiled. "No problem." She handed him a small box full of vials. "Before you go, I do have news."

"Go ahead." He told her, looking slightly impatient.

"Uh, I might need some time off again soon." She nodded towards Nora. "You know."

"I remember." He told her. "I'll give the boss a heads up. Have a good day." He told her before running off, clearly in a hurry.

Magdiana smirked, watching Nora for a few more minutes before calling out. "Nora! It's time to go!"

Nora's head perked up, and the young girl ran over with a big smile on her face. "Please more time, Mama." She complained.

Magdiana got down on her level. "Sorry, dear, but we have to go see Grandma. Can't play here and there."

"Grandma!" Nora enthused, taking her Mom's hand and practically pulling her to her grandmother's house.

When they arrived, Magdiana knocked on the door, waiting for her mother to answer. When the door opened, Eri beamed. "Hello you two!" She smiled, giving them both hugs.

"Hey, Mom." Magdiana said, looking to Nora. "Stay where I can see you in the yard, please." She instructed before stepping inside and sitting at a chair where she could clearly see the front. "I need cleric Mom time. Sorry." Magdiana apologized, watching Nora play.

Eri smiled at her daughter and sat down next to her. "What do you need help with?" She asked her. Glancing out the window to watch Nora play as well.

"You never taught me that magicky pregnancy checker spell, and, so, I'm kind of dependent on you for that." Magdiana explained, getting straight to the point.

Eri blinked a bit and looked to mag. "You have been trying again?" She said a little shocked.

"Actually trying, this time." She nodded. "None of the weird magicky stuff that happened with Mask last time, either."

Eri smiled, and looked to Nora briefly, before looking to Mag. "And now you want to be sure that it was you two, and not a god." She chuckled. "Yes, I will teach you that spell. It is pretty simple to learn." She told Mag honestly.

"I honestly don't care if it's a god or us, but I think I might be… And, I want to surprise As with the good news." She smiled.

Eri smirked, and giggled. "Just don't give him a heart attack." She joked as she began to teach her that particular spell.

Magdiana laughed, "He's still young. He will bounce right back." She watched the spell components, and tried it on herself. "How do I read all of this?"

She giggled a bit. "Well, if your hand vibrates, yes you are pregnant. To tell the gender, the glow will be a different tint for you, no one else can see it." She explained.

"What happens if there's two tints?" Magdiana asked.

Eri raised an eyebrow, and cast the spell on her to see what she was talking about. Her eyes widened a bit and then she began to laugh. "Wow. Mask just loves to play games with you." She said wiping a tear from her eyes. She looked out the window to Nora, and then back to Mag. "Well, that means that one is a boy, and the other is a girl." She said slowly.

"Twins." Magdiana sighed. "I told Astero not to mess with Mask."

Eri chuckled. "At least he let you choose when?" She said trying to hold back laughter, and failing.

"That's what As wanted. I suggested just not using the spell since Mask was going to do whatever he damn well pleased anyway." Magdiana moaned in frustration. "Don't mess with the trickster god."

Eri chuckled, and leaned in to hug Mag. "I'm sorry, but, also I am glad for you." she said squeezing her a little bit.

"Thanks, Mom." Magdiana smiled, hugging her back. "Can you babysit soon? I want to have dinner with As."

"Yes I can." She smiled at her. "Whenever you need me to, I will."

Magdiana sighed. "You know how As and I roll. How about tonight?"

She nodded and looked to Nora. "I would never say no, to seeing my granddaughter." she smiled at Mag.

Magdiana smiled. "Thanks, Mom." Magdiana looked outside. "Let me go tell her what's happening. I'll go and we'll pick her up… around 8?"

"That's fine dear. If you need her to stay later we have clothes for her. Just let me know ahead of time." Eri smiled at Mag.

"I just don't like breaking her routine." Magdiana sighed. "She does better with the familiar schedule."

Eri smiled at Mag. "I understand, just know that we don't mind looking after her. With Jacob off at school, it's nice to have company."

"I'll let you know if stuff changes. For now, plan on tonight." Magdiana waved to her mother, stepping outside and hugging Nora before sending her inside with her grandmother. She got back into town, and went grocery shopping before going home and prepping for the night. When she was done, she left to meet Astero at the shop. It was almost closing when she arrived.

Astero came out of the shop and talked to Gordan for a moment, before he walked over to greet Mag. "good evening." he said giving her a small kiss, and looking around for his daughter. "Where's Nora?" He asked her.

"With her grandmother." Magdiana smiled. "I wanted a surprise date."

Astero smiled and gently grabbed her hand. "Well, I like it. But I would like to go home and change first if that is alright? I smell of burgers, and fries."

"I was going to cook anyway." She told him honestly. "I meant more like child-free night in."

"Even better." He smiled at her. "My feet do hurt." He said with a small sigh.

"I figured. That's why I'm cooking." She told him. "You ready?"

"Lead the way." He said with a small gesture.

Magdiana laughed. "How was your day?"

"Good." He nodded. "But also busy, a lot of people really wanted to eat out tonight. Thankfully it slowed down at the end." He smiled at her.

"I'm glad I got to steal you away early." She smiled, bringing him home quickly. "You go change, and I will take care of the kitchen stuff."

"Thank you." he said stealing a quick kiss from her, and going to go change. He came down several minutes later and sat down near her as she worked on dinner. "So how was your day?" He asked her.

"Finn obviously had shit going on, and Nora is always good. Nothing to really write home about." She half-lied.

"Well that's good." he smiled at her. "How is your mom doing?" He asked her, knowing she was there.

"Full blown empty nest problems. Practically begged to keep Nora." Mag laughed. "It's kind of cute."

"Yeah, Marius is the same way. He came by at around lunch to say hi. He almost never does that." He chuckled.

She sighed. "I might let them keep her for the night. Jacob being away for school is really hard on them."

Astero smiled a bit at that. "It would be nice to sleep in a bit." He said, sighing in relief.

Magdiana brought them both plates of steak and potatoes, sitting down next to him, and cutting into her welldone one with some sadness. She sighed, and took a bite.

Astero took a bite, and sighed at the warm meal. "Thank you." He said leaning over to kiss her. "This is wonderful."

"You're welcome." She smiled, still scowling at her food. "Wish I would have thought of this sooner. I want it rare. What am I saying? You know how I normally like my steaks."

He smiled at her and switched their plates. "There you go. Mine is a little more rare." He said cutting into his new steak.

Magdiana switched their plates back. "I can't have yours." She told him firmly with a smirk.

He paused for a moment and looked at her. "Can't have…" His eyes went wide wide a few moments later. "No! You're joking!" He said with a smile.

She smiled. "Not joking." She told him. "I'm pregnant again."

Astero nearly jumped out of his seat, before he gave her a hug. "We did it!" He said happily.

"We did." She laughed, holding him tightly. "I love you."

He held her for a long moment. "I love you, too. My queen." He smiled at her.

She got back to eating. "You have any guesses about the gender?"

He sat down and hummed for a bit. "Well, I would probably have to go with a girl." He told her honestly. "Fiery women in our families and all. But I would like a boy. However, I can wait." he told her with a nod.

"As?" She asked him. "What if I can't wait to tell you?"

"Then I don't think I really have a choice in the matter. Do i?" he chuckled, taking a bit of his food.

She waited for him to chew and swallow before speaking. "I just see your wheels turning in that beautiful head of yours, and I don't want you to get too far ahead of yourself… I'm having twins. A girl and a boy."

Astero dropped his fork. "T-twins? We are having twins?" He asked making sure he heard her right.

"A son and a daughter." She told him, grabbing his hand. "Mask has a sense of humor."

He sighed, and then chuckled. "Yes he does."He said, still processing her words. "Wow, we are going to need to put an extension on the house." He laughed.

"We do." She smiled. "Our nest egg from the days babysitting Dazgawyn is buying."

"Oh. Well that works out well." He smiled at her.

"As?" She asked him quietly.

"Yes mag?" He asked her back.

She blushed, looking at her stomach. "I'm excited to meet these two."

He looked down at her belly. "Yeah. So am I, and Nora is going to be a big sister." He chuckled.

"The best big sister." She smiled, looking around the house. "I'm not going to be able to work for awhile." She sighed.

Astero looked around as well. "Don't worry, I will help as best I can. Gordan is a really great boss to have, he understands this."

"Keeping up with Nora's energy will be the hardest part." She rubbed her stomach lovingly. "I might need a lot of help…"

"If we need to. I know your mom wouldn't mind helping out." He said sitting closer to her, and putting a hand on her stomach. "No matter what, I will be here to help." he told her reassuringly.

"Until the end, my knight." She kissed him.

"Of course, my queen." He told her into the kiss.

* * *

Magdiana awoke to a pile of bodies in the bed. Astero cuddled against her with the twins on either side of them and Nora on the outside. She wondered what happened until she heard the rain and thunder outside. Her hand rested on her once again pregnant belly as she looked at the two six year olds and one nine year old. She smirked, gently shaking Astero awake. "Hey, Dad?" She asked with a quiet giggle.

Astero stirred and looked to mag, before he tiredly looked around and saw the kids scattered about the bed. He rubbed his eyes a bit, and looked back at mag. "Good morning." he said quietly, with a smile.. "Let me guess. Thunderstorm?" He asked her, already knowing the answer.

"They're cute when they're asleep." She joked. "And, yes."

"When they are asleep, they are angels." He joked. "It's the awake part we still need to work on."

"It's Nora the ringleader we need to work on." She sighed. "The other two follow her lead."

He nodded, looking over at his eldest daughter. "Yeah, she is definitely going to be a business leader one day." He chuckled.

"Whatever she does, she'll be the best at it." She smiled, rubbing her stomach. "This one actually let's me sleep. Thank fuck."

"Shhh." He said gently covering her lips. "They will hear it." He sighed a bit before resting a hand on her stomach. "Thank you for letting Mom sleep." He told her belly.

"I think this one is my last baby." She told him quietly. "This making people business is exhausting."

He smiled at her, as an arm flopped over his head. He let out a sigh, and gently moved the arm. "I second that notion." He smirked back at her.

Magdiana looked back at him. "The King is supposed to come visit soon, too." She reminded him. "To check in on timeline stuff."

Astero sighed, and looked to the kids. "Yeah I know." he told her. "Still don't have a clue how I am going to explain it to these guys when that happens."

She looked at him, turning over to actually face him in bed. "We have time. They'll be older."

"I know. I just hope they will be old enough." He said looking down to her stomach.

"I think we've got another fifteen or so years, so, unless Mask gets cheeky, we should be fine." She placed a hand on his cheek.

He smiled back at her. "Thank you." He said resting a hand on hers, and kissing it.

"I love you, Astero. Thank you for everything you've given me." She kissed him.

"I love you, Magdiana. Thank you for bringing three wonderful children into this world, and another soon enough." He said kissing her in kind.

"Speaking of that one, my plus one is hungry." She told him.

He sighed a bit. "What would you like?" He asked her, trying not to say a word.

"Blueberry oatmeal pancakes." She told him.

He nodded, and gave her a small kiss. "Okay I will go get you something." he sat up and looked around the bed at the scattered sleeping bodies. "It might be a bit." He chuckled.

She sighed quietly. "It was such a good morning, too." She sighed, stomach rumbling. She carefully sat up and made a boom with Thaumaturgy. "Alright! Mom's hungry. Up and at em!"

Astero smirked, as he saw the kids jump in unison. "Come on! Out of the bed, and down to the kitchen!" He told them.

Magdiana laughed as the three ran away to their rooms. "I'm always the heavy." She laughed.

"I know, that's why I love you." he said giving her a quick kiss. "Now let's go get breakfast." he said quickly getting dressed, and corralling the kids down to the kitchen to make the food Mag wanted.

Magdiana came downstairs and sat at the table to be presented with pancakes and three different syrup options. None of them looked good. Magdiana sighed, rubbing her belly. "Do we have chocolate sauce?" She asked quietly.

Astero heard her request, and skirted around one of the twins, and grabbed a small bottle, and set it down in front of her. "Here you go dear." He said going back to making rest of the pancakes for everyone.

"Thank you, As." Magdiana smiled at him, starting to pour the sauce as Nora pushed Jasper to the floor. She tried to stand up, but was too slow at this point in the pregnancy. Instead, she looked to Nora. "Help him up and apologize, dear."

Jasper was crying on the floor, bleeding, and Nora knelt down, helping him up. "I'm sorry." She said genuinely, and Mag gasped as Jasper's cut closed.

"As?" Magdiana asked, baffled.

He turned to look at mag, and saw the faint glow of magic come from Nora's hand and disperse into Jasper. "Holy shit." He said quietly to himself.

"You saw that, right?" She whispered to him, looking back to Nora. "Have you ever done that before, Nora?"

He nodded. "Yeah I saw that." He told her honestly, looking to his eldest daughter intently.

Nora looked between her parents. "Yeah, of course I have. When was the last time Mom healed a cut?" She replied smartly.

"I… excuse me." Magdiana carefully got out of the chair and went to speak with her mother.

Astero looked at Nora for long minute. "How long have you been doing this?" He asked her curiously.

"Like… I dunno… a year." She shrugged nonchalantly.

He shook his head a bit more. "Okay time out. A year?" He asked now more shocked. "You have been casting healing spells for a year, and never once decided to tell us?"

Nora giggled. "Yeah, he told me it would be funnier this way."

Astero raised an eyebrow at her, and then hung his head. He sighed for a long moment. "Mag!" he called out to her. "It wasn't your mother." He said looking back at Nora.

Magdiana came downstairs, sending stone in hand. "It wasn't Dad or Jacob either."

"Yeah, I know… It was Mask." he deadpanned. "Isn't that right Nora?" He asked her a little baffled.

"Yeah, he says Mom needs to show me the daggers sometime." Nora laughed. "I can't imagine Mom with daggers."

Magdiana sat down at the table. "Can I ground a god?" Magdiana asked Astero seriously.

"Sadly, I don't think so." he sighed before he looked at Nora. "Oh yeah, your Mom had a ton of daggers. What were you up to before we stopped? Eighteen?" He asked her curiously.

"Eighteen." She responded. "Can't exactly wear daggers around babies and young children, though."

"Can you show me? I wanna see!" Nora enthused.

Astero looked at Nora and put a hand up. "Not now. Wait until after your new sister is born." he told her firmly. "You will want to see your Mom at full strength." He smiled at his daughter.

Magdiana sniffed the air. "As? Something's burning."

Astero quickly jumped up and tried to salvage the pancake that got left behind. He sighed, and realized it was a goner. He looked to see that everyone else had food, and sighed some more. "Of course it's mine."

Magdiana waved him over. "Have some of mine. My craving is for sweets right now, so it's not completely disgusting for once."

He smiled and sat down next to her ,and took a small bite of one of her pancakes. "Not bad." He told her honestly.

"I want potato salad for lunch. Mustard potato salad." She told him.

"I can make that." He chuckled. "Not too hard to make."

She kissed him and quietly whispered to him. "One cleric down… two and a half to go."

He looked at her, and shook his head. "You know full well, that Jasper and Iris, are going to be some form of caster." He whispered back to her.

"Jasper's going to be a wizard." She responded, sure of herself.

He looked at Iris who was playing with her food a bit. "She will be a sorcerer." He nodded.

"The usual bet?" She asked.

"Yup." He said holding out his hand.

She handed him a gem worth fifty gold. "The other two things are payable upon delivery."

"Of course." He smiled at her, giving her a small kiss.

Magdiana looked at her family with a small smile. Her hand rested on her growing belly. She kissed Astero. "This is perfect. Thank you." She said about so much more than the meal.

* * *

Magdiana waited patiently beneath The Rook. Not even Raze was with her today. She was alone, and the basement was blessedly quiet. It had been ten years since their youngest, Whitney was born. Nora had recently turned twenty and was planning on moving out soon. The twins were still in school for the time being, but would be graduating soon. With the exception of Whitney, the Vosson family home was going to start feeling very empty.

Her thoughts wandered to her husband and how much he had aged while she just… hadn't. His hair had started to grey around the time of child number four, and his whole head was now marked by the salt and pepper hairs. He still moved with the swift sureness of well trained muscles, and a honed mind and body. But, his age showed in the mornings when every joint he had would pop involuntarily, and his new preference for warmer showers was almost jarring to her after over twenty years together. She worried for his years without her, but knew that it would all work out in the end.

The runes around the room glowed with a familiar blue hue before she felt the room quickly grow cold around her. She remained sitting, and simply waited for The King to arrive. He stepped out of a portal a moment later, and sat down at the table with her looking at the tray or tea and scones she'd brought.

She looked up at him with mirth alight in her eyes. "I'm not sure if you eat in the traditional sense, but I always joke about gabbing over tea. So, I actually followed through for once." She cast prestidigitation on the teapot, and poured herself a cup. "How are things up North?"

The King nodded and poured himself a cup. "Thank you, Magdiana. It has been quite a while since I had tea." He said bringing the cup to his mouth, and sipping it. " Lovely." He said, setting the cup down. "Things in the north are going well. Everything has been smooth sailing." He said with a small chuckle.

"I'm glad things are going well." She smiled. "We haven't really had any excitement out of the norm here… Thank Mask for that." Magdiana sighed. "Whitney turns eleven in a few days, and Astero is adjusting to running the shop without Gordon now that he's passed. My parents are about to be grandparents again thanks to Jacob and his girlfriend having a happy accident, and my work is as busy as usual. So, things are about as normal as our lives ever get."

"That's good." The King said, giving her the best smile he could. "It seems all is well then." He said taking another sip of tea. "A lot has happened since we first met. It seems like it was only yesterday for me."

She sipped her tea. "Time must be kind of different when you live that long." She surmised. "I feel like we're always going and doing something since things are so short for us."

"Time is only relative." He told her simply. "I have been around for a long time, and I have done many things in that time. And so have you, you have gotten married, and had several wonderful children. Do you regret any of it?" He asked her, tilting his head to the side a bit.

"None of my regrets have to do with living." She told him honestly.

"Good." He said with a nod. "And that is all that matters."

She nodded, taking a bite of scone that sat like a brick in her stomach. "How much longer do I have? I want to make sure that my affairs are all in order. I don't want to leave any regrets of that nature behind."

He let out a small sigh. "Roughly, six years." He said simply.

She nodded, counting in her head. "I can work with that." She surmised. "As for transportation… I'm torn between The Raven and another method."

"What other method?" He asked her curiously.

She smirked. "Well, my next-door neighbor is a dragon."

The King chuckled. "If he doesn't mind taking you, I can make arrangements for your passage that way."

"I'll think about it a little more. I realize it's a long flight." She told him. "How does one pack for this? Light, I assume? Also, how does Astero get back home?"

"Generally light, yes." he nodded. "As for Astero, he can get back however he likes, The Raven, teleportation, dragon. All he has to do is ask." He told her calmly.

She nodded. "We'll discuss it. Do I need to make arrangements for a… for a body? Or-? How does that work?" She let out a sigh.

He leaned forward a bit, and laced his fingers together. "There won't be a body. It will be like closing your eyes, and it will be over." He said simply. "If you want to make those arrangements, by all means, some say it helps." He said, letting out a small sigh.

"I'm not sure anything will help Astero, but the kids…" She sighed. "I still don't know what we're going to tell them."

The King nodded. "Some have opted for the truth, others have made it seem like an accident happened." he told her. "That is something you will want to talk to Astero about."

"I will definitely have to make a decision about that sooner rather than later." She sighed. "I don't want to blind side them all at once like what happened with Astero and I."

"That would be wise." he told her, looking her over, before taking another sip of his tea. "And have you put any thought into what you want from me?" He asked her, setting his now empty cup down.

She nodded. "I'm not going to ask you not to take any of them. If they're willing, that's their business, but just make sure that they have everything they need to get by. Please don't let them go hungry or something."

"So long as I am alive, they will be well taken care of." He told her, placing a hand on hers.

She smiled at him, not afraid in the least at that moment. "I just wish there was something I could do for Astero. He's been through so much. I know he doesn't want this still, but he's accepted it…"

The King nodded. "Yes, his parents gave their lives to help mine, and he killed his own brother to save your life. He is nothing short of a true kind hearted soul." He said quietly, looking over Mag for a moment. "If there is something you want me to do for him, just ask, you have some time to think about it." He said calmly for her.

"If I can think of anything worthwhile, I'll let you know." She told him. "My having… killed people… isn't a problem?"

He shook his head. "It would only be an issue if you had no issues with it. And did a lot more of it."

"Then, we're fine." She nodded. "When's our next tea time? Any requests? I make a mean pb&j."

"Those sound delicious." he smiled at her. "Let's say two years from now." He said with a nod.

"Two years works. I'll have firm decisions by then, I guess. I'll sending for dates before then." She stood. "Weird question. Am I the neediest of your… or is this normal?"

"You are very much on the lower end of normal, actually rather pleasant." he chuckled. "Some of them can be… a bit much." He said with a sigh.

She laughed. "I can start having breakdowns at every visit if you'd like."

He laughed and shook his head. "Please no, one or two breakdowns yes, not every, single, one."

"I kinda figured you get a bit tired of that." She laughed. "Been trying to spare you the tears. Your job is hard enough."

"Thank you. That is very kind of you." He smiled at her, giving her a small hug. "Well, thank you for the tea, it was lovely. For now, I must be off." He told her standing up.

She shook his hand, pulling it away and saying, "One day, that'll be a hug, but I think we're still building up to that."

He gave her a respectful nod. "Until we meet again." He said with a small bow, opening a portal, and disappearing through it.

Magdiana sighed as the room grew warmer. "At least, my kids will be grown." She muttered to herself as she walked upstairs, wiping tears from her eyes.

* * *

Nora was visiting for dinner that night, and bringing a date. Magdiana was anxiously checking and rechecking dinner to make sure that it was perfect. If Astero had been home from work at the time, he would have been laughing at her. When Astero came home, she jumped, so distracted by her thoughts and anxiety she was. "Don't do that. You know how I get. I will stab you… again." She threatened.

Astero chuckled, and walked over to give her a kiss. "You are overthinking this. Far too much." He smiled as he looked over the food. "It looks good."

"She has had dates, but she's never brought someone to meet us, As. This is big. This could be marriage worthy." She worried aloud to him, gripping his arms a bit firmly out of nervousness. "What if I hate him? Gods, I don't want to be that mother."

He gently held her arms, and calmed her down. "Mag, Nora is smart. She wouldn't go for some asshole, she knows better than that. Whoever he is, he is probably sweet and charming." he smiled at her. "Don't get so pent up. Also do you want me to take over from here?" He asked seeing how flustered she was.

"Yes, please. I'm liable to burn something." She told him. "Do you think he's a human, half-elf, or what?" She asked consistorily as she stepped away.

Astero rolled up his sleeves and began to quickly work in the kitchen. "Knowing Nora, he could be anything. She is a wiley one, never really could figure out her type." he told her honestly, as he got the food to a safer place than where it had been.

"I'm just hoping for not a tiefling. I don't think I can handle another Wake in my lifetime." She laughed, remembering the man fondly.

"At least then we could have a conversation in infernal." He smiled at mag.

"Or, if he's a dragonborn, draconic." She smiled. "Thank you, dear. I feel much better. Sorry I'm crazy."

He smiled at her. "it's fine, I wouldn't have it any other way." He said, getting the food ready before Nora arrived.

Magdiana perked up when there was a knock at the door. "That's them!" She jumped up from her seat. "Oh, gods. Whitney! Come down for dinner!" She called upstairs before moving to answer the door. She opened the door with a smile. "Nora!" She hugged her daughter as her brain processed her companion. "Dazgawyn, I didn't know you were coming to visit. How are you?!"

Astero walked over and hugged his daughter. " Hello dear." He smiled. He looked over to Dazgawyn and smiled. "Hello, long time no see. How are you doing?" He asked her curiously.

Dazgawyn laughed at them. "I see you two are as oblivious as always. I'm well, thank you." She said, walking into the house and towards the dinner table.

Magdiana watched this, and looked to Astero and then Nora. She pulled her into a huge hug. "Oh, baby, you could've told us sooner."

"Oh, oh…" astero said looking between the two. " Well that explains the lack of boyfriends." He said to himself.

"Uh, I- Yes, I guess it does." Nora smiled, looking passed them to the table. "I can't wait to have Dad's cooking. I'm shit at it."

"Well. Go sit down. I will bring the food over in just a minute." Astero told them, going to get the food for everyone.

Nora came to sit next to Dazgawyn. She kissed her cheek. "I love you. Thanks." She whispered.

Magdiana smiled at the pair. "So, tell me how you two got together. Wait. Does your Dad know?"

"He knows about my… preferences. He doesn't know about Nora… yet." Dazgawyn replied. "As for how we got together…" The half-dragon blushed.

Nora smiled. "We… had an adventure. I… saved her life."

"Sounds familiar." Magdiana smiled, looking over at Astero. "You don't have to go into details. We understand."

"Are you ever going to tell us what happened?" Nora asked, sounding frustrated.

"One day, we will." Magdiana promised. "You deserve to know the truth." She said, resolutely coming to a decision in her head. Before she left in a few years time, they would know everything. They deserved to know where their mother disappeared to. "But, first, we have to get the twins here first."

Nora looked at her mother oddly. "They can't get here tonight?"

Magdiana looked to Astero. "Are you up for that tonight?" She gulped a bit.

He took a bite of food and nodded at Mag. "I can do that." He said quietly.

Magdiana nodded, casting sending and calling the twins over. "Alright. I guess we're doing this."

Astero sighed. "Alright then. I think I will get the alcohol out. We might need it." He said standing up and getting the ale.

"I need it." Mag raised a hand, eating more of the food in front of her.

Dazgawyn looked around at the family. "Should I go?"

"No." Magdiana told her seriously. "You're practically family. You can stay."

Magdiana finished her food, and stood. "I'm thinking living room for this… to be comfortable."

"Yeah, i would rather be sitting in the chair for this." Astero told her.

"You guys have me nervous." Nora looked to her parents and then her girlfriend. "Whitney, what do you think of all this?"

Whitney shrugged. "Dunno. Kinda can't believe it." She stood up and started to do the dishes.

The twins arrived about fifteen minutes later, and looked confused by how serious everybody seemed in the house. "Hey, kids." Magdiana greeted. "Take a seat, so we can get started."

"Okay…" Jasper looked around taking a seat.

Iris joined him. "What the hell is going on?"

"Nora wanted to know how your father and I got together." Magdiana explained simply, holding Astero's hand. "You deserve to know the truth about everything. Do we just start at the beginning?" She looked to Astero.

He thought of it for a second. "Yeah, it only makes sense to start there." He nodded at her. " Do you want to start? Or should I?"

"It kind of starts with your parents and brother. My part is just after that." She told him.

"Yeah, you are right." He said sighing a little. He looked at his kids, and sat up a bit straighter. "So, long before your mother and I met, my parents, who I love and miss dearly, gave their lives to help protect the world." He began, looking around the living room.

Magdiana nodded. "That made Astero's older brother, Rivin, angry, and he started to make a plan in order to take down the person who Astero's parents gave their lives to preserve." Magdiana's thumb brushed the back of Astero's hand. "That's where I come in. Our family has a long line of holy people on Mom's side, and, with my Dad being a paladin from a different god, Rivin decided to steal me away when I was just one year old."

"What?!" The kids collectively gasped.

"Your father and I were both raised in Yutan by people who weren't our parents." She spelled it out for them.

The room exploded with a barrage of questions, none of which were coherent enough to respond to. Magdiana looked to Astero and took a drink of the whiskey he'd poured them. "Can we continue?" She asked them in response, looking to each child in turn. "So, your father and I lived in the smallest bastion of civilization the farthest North in Yutam there is called Evermore. We grew up in pretty close quarters, and, apparently, cared for each other quite a bit because the adults in our lives continuously pitted us against each other in hopes that we wouldn't get together…" Magdiana looked to Astero and smiled at him sweetly. "I don't think they planned on just how stubborn we can be because we did, obviously get married and have some pretty awesome kids. As, can you-? I don't think I can say about those bad bits."

Astero nodded. "So, between making us fight each other, and poisoning each other. Never really got along, up until we realized that our families were lies. We worked together, and got out of Yutan as fast as we could." He smiled at Mag briefly, before he looked back at the kids. "We did have some help, and that was thanks to a tiefling named Wake. He brought us from Yutan to here in Asesh. To where Mag could be reunited with her actual parents."

"After I met my real parents, Astero and I started talking, and we realized that we had stuff bigger than ourselves happening. So, we did what we do best. Train. Fight. And, Wake, who was helping us, told us to do team building." She laughed, fondly looking up at the charred puzzle up on the wall. "That part you already know."

"What's up with the burnt puzzle?" Dazgawyn asked them curiously.

Astero chuckled a bit. "That was one of the first team building things we did. We got interrupted a lot while making that." He told her.

"And the burning?" The half-dragon pressed.

"Well, remember how my brother was not fond of us getting together. He tried to take Mag away. I took exception to that, and fought him, he used a spell scroll and cast fireball." He deadpanned the last part. " Thus the burned bit."

"It gives it character." Magdiana commented. "And a good story. But, we did just skip a good bit. During our team building, your father realized that I'd had the biggest crush on him for years, and, a couple days later, he decided to give me a chance. I'm still waiting to wake up from that dream." She giggled.

Astero gave her a small pinch. "Your not dreaming." he told her.

"You're sure?" She flirted, looking at the kids with a little blush. "Anyway, we started dating, and, then, one day, your father gets a letter from a brother he's never heard of before." She looked to Astero for support."

"It was jarring to say the least. He wanted to use us as a way to take revenge for my parents, by using us as weapons. He made us question literally everyone, as we didn't know who to trust." He explained to them.

"He made it so we only trusted each other, and we questioned whether my parents were my actual parents for a solid week until Wake talked some sense into us." She rubbed Astero's back. "That's when we learned about the person who your father's parents sacrificed their lives for." She paused for a minute, casting a spell before she spoke again. "This is information that not everybody knows, so I need you to promise me that you won't go spreading this around town or something. Otherwise, you're having a spar with your Mom, and not a friendly one."

The kids looked at each other, before they gave a collective nod.

"Good." Astero said with a nod. "The person we met is simply known as The King. He is a very powerful, who can cast some very high level spells." He said with a small shutter. "Technically he is a lich, but, unlike normal liches, he uses his powers to make sure that the undead are kept in check." He told them calmly.

"Woah, woah, woah." Nora said. "You guys know, and are friends with, a lich?"

Magdiana nodded. "Yes, we had tea last month."

"What?!" Whitney exclaimed, eyes wide in shock. "Was it here? You let that into our house."

"He doesn't visit here." Magdiana told them honestly. "Our house wasn't built for that. And, you have nothing to fear from him. He's actually a good guy. Has his mother's cheekbones." She laughed.

Astero laughed as well. "He is pretty funny." He said looking to Mag. "How is he doing? You see him more than I do thanks to work."

"He's well. I'm making pb&j's for his next visit." She giggled. "I think real food makes him feel more alive, and pb&j sandwiches are a mother of four's expertise. I think I'll remove the crusts just to see his reaction."

"Yes please, do tell me his reaction when it happens." Astero smiled at her widely.

"Of course!" She giggled, looking at the children's faces and laughing harder.

Iris and Jasper looked at each other. "You two are…" Iris started.

"By far, the weirdest people on the planet." Jasper finished.

"You are welcome." Astero smiled at the twins, giving mag a small kiss on the cheek.

"Where were we?" Magdiana asked, trying to remember where they got derailed.

"He uses his power to protect." Astero told her.

Magdiana nodded. "That's right, and, instead of forcibly taking lives, he asks first."

"So," Dazy started. "He just walks up to people and asks, 'Hey, will you help me live longer so the undead won't take over the planet?"

"In the simplest of senses, yes." Magdiana answered honestly. "But it's never that simple." She tried to explain. "If he just asked anybody, he'd run the risk of becoming corrupted. He's very careful about who he chooses, and that person can always still say 'no'." She gulped, feeling a little bit sick about how close they were to telling the kids the whole truth. That she would be next. She looked to Astero for help, pleading with him with her eyes.

He gave her a small kiss on the forehead, and looked to the children. "The King asked my parents if they would help him, and they said yes." He paused for a moment, looking to the kids. " The King… Also asked your Mom." He said quietly, trailing off a bit.

"You're joking!"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"You told him 'no', right?"

"Mom, no!"

All four children screamed simultaneously, and Magdiana started to quietly cry. She smiled softly at each of them. "I agreed long before any of you were even imagined, and you're not going to change my mind."

Astero looked to the kids, and rubbed Mags shoulder. "I get it kids, I was upset too. I wasn't a fan of the idea when I first found out…Hells, I am still not a fan of the idea. But it was your mother's choice to make. If she is set on the choice, I will stand beside her."

Magdiana held Astero's hand, squeezing it firmly while she tried to stop crying. She whispered. "Thank you." To him gratefully.

Nora, always the ringleader looked standoffish. "How long?" She asked pointedly.

Magdiana took a deep breath before responding. "About six years." She told them.

Nora fell into Dazgowyn's arms and started to cry. "So soon." She muttered.

"I know." Astero told her. "I wish it was longer too, but I am glad that I am getting the time that we have with her now."

Whitney and the twins all ran up and started giving their mother a group hug, tears falling all around. Magdiana held them as best she could. "I just want to protect you all… in any way I can. This isn't sad. This is happy. You're all grown up. You had me when you were young, and you'll remember me long after I'm gone. You all had birthday cakes, and scoldings, and Mom to take care of you while you were sick. I've gotten to see you grow up, and one of you is even in love. I've lived. Now, it's your turn to do that for me. Oh, and you have to take care of your Dad for me. He's getting pretty old. Might break a hip soon."

Astero looked at Mag with a small glare. "I am still in better shape than any other man my age. If I break anything, it will not be a hip." He told her.

She stole a kiss from him. "I know. You're in fantastic health. You'll outlive me." She laughed at the joke until she saw his scowl. "What? It's how I deal with it."

"I know, but, the kids." He said looking at the kids.

All of the children, even Dazy were looking at her with concern. "Oh, guys…" Magdiana sighed. "It's either I make light of the situation or I cry woe is me day in and day out. Which one would you prefer your Mom to do? I'm sorry if it hurts, but I don't want you all to remember me being scared about this. I'm not. This is part of life, and we'll all be there one day… I'm just… getting there a little bit sooner and in a very different way."

"When were you going to tell us? Or were you just going to disappear and make us wonder where our mother went for the rest of our lives?" Nora accused, now sitting fully in Dazy's lap.

"I was always going to tell you. I just hadn't figured out the how yet. This isn't exactly the easiest subject to bring up." Magdiana responded honestly, still holding the other three kids tightly.

"And if she never did. I was." Astero told Nora, he looked at the three kids now. "I really didn't want another Rivin going because of us." He said with a deep sigh.

"So, your brother wanted revenge on the lich for your parents. How did he take Mom? She's scary." Whitney chimed in, pulling away from the group hug and hugging her father.

Magdiana nodded. "That's easy. I went with him willingly. He asked me to be his weapon, and I agreed. I lied. It still almost worked, though." She trailed off, remembering the pain of fighting the order to kill Astero.

"Kids. My brother, who I never actually considered a brother, was a manipulative son of a bitch." He said bluntly. "He killed Wake to get a ship, and killed countless others, all because they were in the way."

"He manipulated both of us like an expert. He knew exactly what we would do and when we would do it. He tried to make me kill your father." Her eyes watered even though they'd been dry a moment before. "He made us kill people that probably didn't need to die. To prove a point. For revenge on something that his parents willingly did. He tried to negate everything your grandparents did for this world."

"Thankfully. He is long gone." Astero said with a content sigh. He pulled Mag close. "We will never see him again."

Magdiana leaned into Astero. "And, at the end of the fight, your Dad brought be to Grandma Eri. She healed me. He saved my life by carrying me from here to The Rook with a sprained ankle. "The next day, we couldn't wait anymore. We got married."

Nora looked to Dazgawyn and both of them looked a bit uncomfortable. Magdiana looked to Astero, and cut her eyes over to the couple. Something was going on.

Astero raised an eyebrow at his eldest daughter. He sighed a bit, before letting out a small chuckle. "Let me guess… you have thought about it. Haven't you?" He asked them.

Dazgawyn looked down at her lap, holding Nora's hand. "Uh," She started, but never continued.

"We eloped Dad." Nora finished.

"Oh." He said shocked. "But, I wanted to be there." He said sadly.

Magdiana carefully stood up, making to twins go take their seats again, and walked over, pulling the new couple into a hug. "Oh, you two have always been such strong willed, independent young women. I'm proud of you. Even if I did want to see my baby get married." She paused for a minute. "You want me to tell Lumillon don't you?"

"Yes, please." The pair chimed back in unison.

"You bitches." Magdiana muttered into their ears. "I'm calling him over. We're going to do this together. Thank fuck we fireproofed the house after the double fireball incident." Magdiana looked to Astero and cast Sending to Lumillon. A few minutes later, the man himself was at their door, and Astero was greeting the man, now his in-law- not that the gold dragon knew that yet.

"Hey, Lumillon. How have you been?" Astero asked him, leading him to the living room.

Lumillon's eyebrow raised at everybody in the room. "I'm well." He replied, seeming to be assessing the situation. "Except my wife keeps inviting my daughter to dinner, and she keeps refusing for some reason." He looked at Dazgawyn pointedly.

"Sorry, Dad." Dazy said in a guilty voice.

Magdiana gestured to the last sitting chair. "Please take a seat. Our daughters were just telling us something very important." She looked to the pair, and, after a full minute of not talking, Magdiana looked to Dazgawyn. "Would it help if we do this in draconic?" She asked, knowing that, of her children, only Nora had bothered to learn.

Dazgawyn looked to her father. "I, uh… We…" She stuttered even in the guttural growls of dragons.

Nora looked from her wife to her mother. She looked kind of helpless. "Mom…" She whispered.

Lumillon looked between the two. "Well?" He asked sounding impatient.

Magdiana looked to the pair. "Girls, I'm going to give you one minute to either figure out how to say it or I will, and I guarantee that Lumillon would appreciate it coming from you much more than me." She punctuated her sentence by making her eyes glow bright with Thaumaturgy.

The pair looked at each other, eyes meeting before Dazgawyn cleared her throat. "We-got-married." She blurted.

Actual motes of flame came out of Lumillon's nose. "Excuse me? I don't think I heard that correctly."

Nora looked to Lumillon. "We ran away and got married."

Lumillon sat back in his chair, looking floored for the first time since the Vosson's had met him. "Dazy?" He asked quietly.

"Dad…" She blushed. "I'm sorry. It was kinda spontaneous, and, by the time we realized we kinda screwed up it was already done. We were gonna break the news a little slower, but, uh, Nora's Dad caught us."

Astero looked to Lumillon. " If it helps at all. I only found out about an hour before you arrived." He told him comfortingly.

The dragon placed his fingers on his temples and rubbed. "Alright, fine, but who's last name did you choose?"

"Drakon." The pair replied in synch.

"It's cooler." Nora told her parents. "Sorry."

Astero chuckled. " It's okay, it does sound cooler."

"I honestly can't blame you." Magdiana laughed, switching into common. "Congratulations, you two. Will you at least let us have a wedding for you? I need an excuse to have a big party in the next six years."

"Stop that!" The other three kids shouted.

Magdiana sighed. "If you kids don't think I'm going to eat and drink and dance my happy butt off over the next few years, I don't know who raised you."

Astero looked at Mag and then to the kids. "Your mom is still going to be the same firey person you have always known. That part is not going to change." He told them seriously. "She just has a time limit on what she can do." He sighed.

Lumillon perked up at hearing this. "Oh, so you finally told them." He sighed. "Another Magdiana gone far too soon."

Magdiana looked at Lumillon, making a face. "Don't do that." She told him. "By the way, would you mind getting me there in style?" She asked. "Always did want to fly on a dragon's back."

"That is not dignified, but I suppose I can make an exception for my… in-law." Lumillon eyed her. "Don't tell your mother."

"I wouldn't dream of it. She thinks I'm taking The Raven." She told him.

" It has been a while since we were last on the ship." Astero said quietly.

Magdiana nodded. "Yeah, and I forgot to ask if we could borrow it for a few weeks in the next couple years. I'll cast sending again tomorrow. Sorry."

He smiled at her. "It's fine, we will be able to have a trip with it soon enough."

"We will." She smiled. "Alright, does anybody else have any news? No more surprise marriages or pregnancies? Engagements? Boyfriends? Girlfriends?"

Jasper looked at the group and raised a hand. "I got a girlfriend." He said somewhat nervously.

Iris looked at her twin brother with a bit of anger. "You got a girlfriend and you didn't tell me?" She said pushing him.

"I was going to, and now I told everyone." Jasper said defensively.

Astero chuckled. "Please at least let us meet her, okay?" He asked him.

Jasper nodded. "I will."

"Yes, please. I'd like to meet your important people. Don't hide stuff from me." Magdiana smiled, looking around the room. "I want to know that my babies are all going to be okay without me."

Whitney made a face. "I don't want a boyfriend. They are weird." She told the room.

Magdiana smiled at her youngest. "That's okay, dear. You could have a girlfriend like Nora or Jasper, and we'll still be proud of you."

She thought for a moment. "I don't think I want a girlfriend."

"Also dear. It's technically wife now." Astero told Mag.

"That's still weird. I'm not used to it yet." Magdiana made a face. "And, Whitney, you don't have to be in a relationship to be happy or to make us happy. We love you just as you are."

"That's good. I want to wait and figure it out." She smiled at her mom.

Magdiana smiled. "That will always be okay with me. Just be yourself, and you'll figure it out." She sat back for a second and breathed before looking around the room, clapping. "Alright! If you don't live here, get out, Mom's exhausted."

Lumillon stood up and smiled at Mag. " Just as firey as ever." He walked over and gave Dazy a hug. "I love you." He told his daughter.

"Love you." Dazy blushed. "Dinner tomorrow?"

"Yes." He smiled. "Your mother would love that, and to learn about all of this." He said smiling at Nora.

"Uh, good to see you again… uh… Dad." Nora said, making a face. "Okay, that's going to take some getting used to."

Astero looked at Lumillon. "We are in-laws. I am in-laws with a dragon." He chuckled in disbelief.

Lumillon smirked, snorting fire. "You are… an acceptable in-law. Perhaps, if you and your wife tried, you could best me."

Astero smirked back. "We will try for it someday soon."

"Lumillon… Astero…" Magdiana threatened. "I will put you both down and then bring you back and do it again if you're not careful."

Astero shrank as Mag spoke. "Yes dear." He said quietly.

Lumillon nodded. "We will settle that at a different time." He told Astero, before he smiled at Mag before taking his leave.

Magdiana looked at the occupants of the room. "Yes, I just threatened to kill a dragon, bring him back, and kill him again. Once again, Mom's tired… and cranky. Go home." Iris, Jasper, Nora and Dazgawyn all ran out the door without so much as a goodbye. Magdiana started to laugh, finishing her drink before walking upstairs to the bedroom.

Astero locked the door, and followed Mag up the stairs. "How are you feeling? Other than exhausted?"

"I feel like… I'm going to have a better answer to that in the morning." She told him. "If I tell you now, I'm going to cry… again."

He lied down in bed, and looked up at her. " It's okay dear, you can tell me then."

She undressed and laid down next to him. "Thank you." She kissed him softly, closing her eyes. "Goodnight."


	19. Endgame

Magdiana had turned fifty a few days ago, and Astero a few months before that. On their anniversary, they'd taken a month off of work and spent the time together on The Raven. The day before, they'd had dinner with friends and family- steak and eggs- Magdiana didn't care that it was a breakfast dish. It was her favorite. After a round of hugs and goodbyes, Magdiana was barely holding it together to leave in the morning.

She didn't want to make Astero feel any worse than he already did, so, once he'd fallen asleep that night, she cast silence on the bathroom door, and cried her heart out. Before going to bed, she carefully removed her clothes, and placed them in a sealed bag. She hid them in her dresser drawer with the others, locking in the scent for him for when he needed it. She wrote him another letter, hiding it from him for him to find, along with many others that he still didn't know about. She was as ready as she could ever get.

Far too late, in the early morning hours, she joined him in bed, not sleeping, but enjoying his embrace nevertheless. When he awoke in the morning, she kissed him on the lips, lingering for a long moment. "Good morning, dear."

He savored the taste of her on his lips, as he looked into her eyes. "Good morning."

"Lumillon will be here any minute." She reminded him. "It's a long flight."

He sat up and quickly put on some clothes. "Then, I want to be there to see you off." He said getting ready quickly.

"What? You're not going with me?" She asked him quietly, starting to get dressed herself.

"Why do you think I am getting dressed?" He told her. "I want to be there to see you off." He repeated.

She dressed, leaving all of her daggers behind, staring at them with a bit of sadness. "Thank you." She frowned, setting her jaw into a firm line. "I'm ready." She told him, sitting on the bed and waiting. Her hands were shaking, so she balled them into fists.

When Astero was done, he sat down next to her. He put an arm around her, and held her close. "I know." He told her quietly. "I know." He said, trying to be as strong as possible as he could for her.

She leaned into him. "My Knight." She whispered as she heard the knock at the front door.

He sighed, and stood up holding his hand out for her. "My Queen."

She took his hand, and slowly walked downstairs. Each step filled her with dread, and the lump in her throat felt larger and larger. She opened the door, and greeted Lumillon cordially, if a little more muted than her normal self. The trio walked out of town before Lumillon transformed, and the Vosson's climbed onto his back. "Alright, in-law, please don't drop us." Magdiana joked.

Lumillon smiled back at her. "Don't worry. You will make it there in one piece." He said calmingly.

They took off, and it took awhile to get used to the feeling. After about an hour, the air felt almost calming. Magdiana gripped onto Astero, holding him tightly around the middle, enjoying the closeness as they flew overseas as the air cooled around them and snow began to fall. She hadn't bothered with winter clothes, not feeling like she would be around long enough for potential hypothermia to matter. Instead, she just sidled up closer to her husband, keeping him near. She knew that they were close when the familiar architecture of Evermore appeared below them. She squinted into the distance, and, eventually, a castle in the mountains appeared. A shiver ran up her spine. She hugged Astero tighter.

Astero held her back tightly, making sure she was close. As they got closer to the castle, the area surrounding it began to look different. From the height they were at it almost looked like trees, but as they got closer it became clear that they were not trees, it was undead. As Lumillon got closer to the ground near the castle, the undead separated, and gave them a place to land. Lumillon touched down and looked to the couple. "This is your stop." He said to them. "I will wait here."

Magdiana patted Lumillon's side. "Thank you, old friend. See you in the next life." She told him, gripping onto Astero's hand, and walking towards the doors of the castle. "I love you." She whispered to him as they walked past the legions of undead.

"I love you." He whispered back. He looked around at the legions, and shivered. "At least it is a pretty safe place." He hollowly joked.

They made their way into the drafty palace. "It's the safest you'll ever be." She assured him, rubbing his hand with her thumb. "You're with me and The King. Nothing can hurt you here."

"I wasn't worried." He told her honestly. "I am just nervous is all." He said rubbing her hand in kind.

She squeezed his hand. "I know." She told him, seeing The King just ahead. She gulped audibly. "Hey." She greeted anxiously.

"Hello." He said warmly. "I am glad you made it here safely."

"Thanks." She said, releasing Astero's hand to hug the lich. "Good to see you again, old friend."

The King hugged her back, and gently pay her shoulder. "It has been a while." He said quietly to her. He pulled away and greeted Astero. "Hello."

"Hey." He said quietly.

Magdiana stepped back and pulled a bag out of her pocket. She handed it to The King. "I made chocolate chip cookies this time."

He gently took the bag and smiled. "Thank you." He told her, gesturing them down the hallway. "I will have some a little later."

Magdiana's hand took Astero's again. "Kinda figured." She muttered, kissing her husband's cheek and following The King's lead. "Hey, As?" She whispered to him.

He looked to her. "Yes Mag?" He asked her quietly.

"I didn't want to tell you sooner, but… Mask is going to be checking in on you while I'm gone." She admitted. "Ahem… Divine intervention."

"Thank you." He said kissing her cheek. " It will be nice to know that I will have a bit of you watching over me." He smiled at her.

She nodded. "You're welcome. There's a couple other things at home for you… to help. My dresser has all of my dirty clothes from the last month in it bagged up so you can smell me if you need to, and I've hidden… I don't know how many letters around the house. Lost count three weeks ago."

He felt his eyes water a bit, and wiped the tears away. "Thank you. You are going to make me look like a crazy person." He joked.

"You'll find them naturally. You don't have to go on a scavenger hunt on day one." She giggled, but it didn't sound right. "I will love you until the end of your days and beyond."

He smiled at her. "And, I will love you until time itself stops." He said squeezing her hand.

They reached a room at the end of a long hallway. "My Knight." She kissed him, lingering to enjoy his taste.

"My Queen." He said with teary eyes, savouring every last moment of her.

She looked away from him and to The King. Her voice caught, and she didn't want to worry Astero any more than he already was. So, she just waited for instructions quietly.

The King silently waited for them to have their moment. When she looked at him, he gave a nod to her. He gestured to her and opened the large doors to reveal a large chamber, with a platform in the middle. He gave a small nod to Astero, as a sign of 'this is the end, I'm sorry'.

Astero took a few steps back but kept facing the door, he was going to wait until he could see Mag no more.

Magdiana blew him a kiss, throwing it at him like they had back in his room at The Rook all those years ago. She smiled at him before turning and taking The King's hand. Hers was shaking, but she still didn't let herself cry. This was hard enough without them. She didn't need to cry. There would be enough tears without adding her own to the mix today.

The King began to gently lead Mag into the room. She had made it several feet in before a magic washed over her body and pushed her out of the room with some force. The King looked at his hand, and then to Mag in shock. He stood quiet.

"Uh… I take it that's not normal." She asked, voice wavering.

The King glanced around the room before his gaze rested on Mag. He briefly he looked to Astero, and sighed. "I cannot accept your soul." He said in a voice of sadness, and confusion.

"What… just happened?" She asked, equally confused. "Why did it… refuse me?"

He made a face, unsure of how to properly respond. "Did you two… have sex recently?" Has asked bluntly, not mincing words.

Magdiana blushed. "Well, yeah, but we've been using the spell."

The King looked at her intently, making sure that she was being truthful. After a long moment, he sighed deeply. "Then, it would seem Mask favors you far more than you know." He said taking a step out and shutting the door, ushering them away from that door.

"Wh- what?" She asked, starting to get flustered and looking to Astero. "What?"

Astero looked to Mag, and looked to The King. "Okay, I don't want to sound rude, but could you please explain what the fuck is going on?" He blurted out. "There are way too many emotions to try and process this right now."

The King sighed and looked to Astero. "When I am offered a soul, I am very sure to not take a child." He said with a pause.

"But, I don't… I'm not." She got a funny look on her face for a second and cast the pregnancy detection charm on herself. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to plane shift to mount Celestia, and I'm going to fucking kill a god."

"For what? Bringing you life?" The King asked her curiously.

"Mask has never had to go through childbirth." Magdiana made a face.

Astero looked to The King. "We went through all this emotional and psychological turmoil, just to not have to do any of it?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

The King nodded. "Yes." He told him simply. "I am also annoyed."

"I'm sorry." Magdiana told him honestly. "I didn't mean to…" She trailed off, finally letting loose on the tears she'd been holding back all day.

The King gently patted her back. "It's fine. It was not your fault. It is also not the first time this has happened." He told her calmly.

Magdiana walked over to Astero and pulled him into a hug, crying heavily. "My god is an asshole. He could've just told me to say no… twenty years ago."

"Yes he is." Astero said crying into Mag.

"I love you." She whispered into his ear. "I love you. I love you." She started to say more desperately over and over as she cried into him.

"I love you." He told her on repeat, as he held her tightly held her.

"As?" She asked him shakily, her entire body starting to give out in his arms.

"Yes?" He asked her, wiping away tears.

She pulled away, but only just. "It's twins again… that asshole."

Astero hung his head for a moment, and then began to laugh, falling over in laughter. "That asshole." He said holding his sides, and trying to calm down for the emotional whiplash he just experienced.

"Hey! That was my worst pregnancy." She complained, looking at him with soft eyes, "And, you're not as young as you used to be."

He nodded and sat up to look at her, before turning to The King. "I know, and I am sorry for laughing, but Mask didn't want to just be sure you didn't get taken… He wanted to be doubly sure." he chuckled. "Sorry." He said looking at The King apologetically.

"This is morbid, but it really doesn't feel like a blessing right now. He made me fucking look death in the eyes, and, then, took it away and said, 'Oh, hey, by the way, I know you haven't had an infant in sixteen years, but here you go'!"

Astero nodded and let out a sigh. "How are we going to explain this to the kids?" He asked her seriously. "They were more ready than we were."

Magdiana shook her head. "I don't know." She looked over to The King. "I'm sorry. Really, I am, had I known… we might have done things differently. I guess, we'll get out of your hair, so to speak. Just let us know if you need anything, and we'll take care of it."

The king shook his head at her. "No. You have no reason to be sorry. You did nothing wrong." he told her comfortingly. "It literally was an act of a god." He said with a sigh. He shook his head a bit, and pulled out the cookies to eat one. "These are delicious." He smiled at her. "I do hope we can still have our tea times. They are nice." He told her confidently.

"Of course. Just sending and we will set a time and date. I'll think of something good for next time." She told him.

He gave her a nod. "Will do." He smiled, before beginning to usher them out. "Now please go enjoy the rest of your life. This is no place for a pregnant woman." He told the both of them.

"This outfit in this weather is not good either." She suddenly realized how cold she was. "I wasn't exactly planning on it mattering."

The nodded and a few moments later a few undead arrived with some warmer clothes for the two of them. "There that should help keep you warm." He said smiling.

Magdiana pulled on the coat and leaned into Astero for warmth. "Thank you." She told him. "For everything you do." She grabbed Astero's hand. "Let's go home."

Aster nodded and looked to The King. "Again thank you." He told him, before turning and starting to walk out with Mag in hand.

The King smiled and waved them off. "Take care!" He called out to them, as they left.

The pair walked outside to a very confused looking gold dragon. Magdiana looked to her in-law. "Uh, apparently, I didn't know I was pregnant again." She blushed.

Lumillon blinked several times, and shook his head. "You can explain it when we get back." He sighed, leaning down to let them get on.

Magdiana mounted the dragon behind Astero, and held his waist. "I love you, As." She told him.

Astero turned and stole a kiss. "I love you, Mag." He said, turning and leaning into her.

Hours later, they arrived back home to a very confused family waiting back at the Vosson family home. Magdiana looked to Astero for support. "It's complicated." She started.

"Complicated is basically our middle name at this point." Astero sighed. "To put it as simply as possible. Your mom is pregnant." He said bluntly.

"Like what happened with Nora. Mask turned off the spell again." She added. "We obviously weren't trying."

"Definitely weren't trying." He added. "The only difference this time is that we are getting another dose of double trouble." He said looking to the twins.

Magdiana sat down heavily on a chair before tears took her full force. "I'm so sorry I put you through all of that. You shouldn't have had to say goodbye like that only for this… I'm so sorry."

Astero sat down next to her. "I am just glad I get to see more of you." He told her honestly, pulling her in for a tight hug.

Jasper and Iris followed suite, and moved in to hug their mom. "We would rather have gone through that a thousand times, if it meant seeing you for just another minute." Jasper said to her.

"Yeah." Iris added. "We want to see as much of you as possible, any more time is good enough for us."

Magdiana looked to the twins, holding her arms out for them, "Get over here, you two." They ran in for a hug just as Nora started to speak.

"When I asked Mask for more time with you, I wasn't expecting this." She said crying as she walked to hug her mom. "I love you."

Magdiana hugged her eldest. "It would be you." She giggled. "Your prayers have been answered. I'm going to be around for a long time. I want my dagger back."

Nora chuckled. "I will give it back to you, you big goof." She said squeezing her mom tighter.

Magdiana looked to her youngest. "Please don't tell me you prayed to Mask too."

Whitney simply nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't want you to go." The sixteen year old started crying, joining Nora in their mother's arms.

"Well, that explains the twins. Literal bastard." Magdiana laughed.

Astero smiled at his wife. "I am thanking him, just this once." He told her. "I really didn't want to lose my best friend." He said teary eyed.

"Four of our six children are thanks to that deity." Magdiana complained. "It's honestly, a bit of a relief, though. I wasn't as ready as I was playing at." She sighed, patting her non-existent belly. "Shit was terrifying."

"I could tell." Astero told her honestly. "You were shaking, the closer we got to Yutan."

"As, I didn't dress for the weather. I was cold." She laughed. She stilled. "If anybody finds a letter around the house, don't read it. Those were for when I'm gone. I will cut you otherwise."

Nora laughed hugging her mother. "You're a dork… I found mine this morning, and you're not getting it back. You sentimental old lady."

Jasper raised a hand too. "Yeah hiding it in the cookie jar wasn't the best place for mine." He joked.

"Yeah, could have put mine in a less obvious place too, Mom." Iris smiled.

Whitney pulled a letter out of her pocket. "My baby girl," She started to recite from the letter before the room suddenly and inexplicably went silent while Magdiana turned red.

A minute later, the room had noise again. "Alright, fine. If you find any other letters, don't read them." Magdiana sighed. "At least, you found them. Jeez."

Astero slowly raised a hand. "If I am being honest, I have already found several." he told her honestly. "But I haven't read any of them." He added, leaning into her to whisper into her ear. "I was going to wait."

"That was kind of the point." Magdiana groaned. "And, I now have a month's worth of laundry to do and no clean clothes."

"Well at least you know someone who can help." he told her with a smile.

"At least, I don't have to take a year off of work again. I already quit." She tried to look on the bright side.

"Yeah, you retired early." astero told her. "I still have a few more years before I even think of that." he said with a sigh.

Magdiana looked at his greying hair and frowned. "Yeah, we have some small mouths to feed now. And, I don't need to retire. Just… maternity leave."

Astero saw her eyeing his hair, and shook his head slightly. "We are still loaded after what was left on The Raven… money is not an issue." He told her honestly.

"I know, but what am I going to do for… Soo many years without work to fill my day?" She asked him seriously.

Astero smiled at her, and looked to the hanging picture frame above the door. "Well… you could always take up a hobby of puzzles." He joked at her.

"Oh, no. That one puzzle took us two years. We kept getting interrupted." She looked like she'd be backing away if she weren't sitting.

He chuckled a bit. "And now the only distractions we will be having is kids, and I would say we are pretty good at dealing with them." He chuckled looking at his children.

Magdiana looked to her kids and back to her husband. "Would you mind if we had a moment alone?" She asked the kids quietly.

The kids quickly and quietly got up and filed out of the room, retreating to the backyard. Leaving Astero and Mag alone together.

"As," Magdiana looked at him with soft eyes. "I need to be able to support two twins and an aging husband. I can't just… not work."

Astero grabbed her hand, giving her a nod. "I know, that was why I worked so hard to make sure we didn't go into the savings," He told her honestly. "I made sure to just use the money I made, I did dip in a bit, but not a disgusting amount." He told her seriously.

"I'll be with you until the end." She finally assured him after staring into his eyes for a minute. "After that, I might go back to work." She gulped, chest tight. "I never prepared to lose you."

He placed a hand on her cheek, and leaned in to give her a kiss. "A knight is prepared to serve his queen until the very end… no questions asked." He smiled at her.

Magdiana's eyes sprung up with tears. "Please don't… a queen can move anywhere she wants, but, without support, she's just as useful as a pawn."

He shook his head a bit. "A queen is the most powerful piece on a board. A knight is the trickiest." He told her. "Knights are a distraction for the true show to begin."

"But, I don't want our game to end." Her throat was thick. "I need you still."

He looked into her eyes for a long moment. "I will always be there for you." He explained to her. "I still feel my parents watching over me, and i know i will always be watching over you too. Making sure that your dreams are nice and peaceful."

"It was supposed to be me protecting you. You were supposed to live." She sniffed.

"My parents wanted me to live a long and happy life… if that means that I know you will be alive when I pass. Then it is a happy life for me." He told her honestly.

She held his hand, crying hard now. "I'll be there until the end. Until my own. Until the end of time itself." She promised. "Gods, I'm sorry I did this to you, you asshole."

He pulled her in for a tight and comforting hug. "I will love you, until time runs out." He whispered to her, rubbing her back soothingly. "It's okay."

She hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Astero… for giving me a chance."

"My only regret is not doing it sooner." He whispered to her.

"None of my regrets involve living." She repeated her words she'd said to The King six years before.

He gave a slight nod. "Just knowing you were there is good enough." He told her.

"Until the end, My Knight." She promised.

"Until the end, My Queen." He promised in kind.

The End


End file.
